DAPHNE, Ala. —Richard Johnson, public works director for Daphne, said you can’t drive through Daphne without seeing a public works employee, but he believes that most Daphne residents are still unsure what the department actually does for the city.

The public works department brought most of its equipment to Daphne’s Lott Park on Wednesday for demonstrations and exploration, in hopes that residents would learn a bit more about what the department does for the city and get to know the community better.

“This is a nice break for my folks,” Johnson said. “They don’t get to show people what they do and the stuff that they work on. It is a good outreach and I think that it is a connection to the community we really want to have. Everyone knows their garbage man by sight, but they never stop long enough to be able to chat. This is a time that we get to show off and meet our constituents, or at least their kids.”

More than 1,000 elementary school students from all of the public and private schools in Daphne primarily attended the event. Students were allowed to put themselves behind the driver’s seat of most of the equipment in the park, including a fire truck, tractors, a garbage truck and mowers. Students were not allowed to drive the machinery, but they were allowed to honk the horns, which led to a constant medley throughout the afternoon. Students also got to climb in the back of the police squad car.

Daphne Utilities provided hot dogs and drinks and Daphne’s recreation department provided snow-cones and popcorn.

Johnson said the public works department has a lot of different jobs throughout the city that are handled by the different departments within public works.

“Basically, big picture, public works is all those services within a municipality jurisdiction. In this case, it is primarily utilities, which is a separate corporation here, and then there is the public works that the city performs,” Johnson said.

The department is broken into the categories of streets, grounds, mowing, buildings and properties and mechanical maintenance.

The streets department, Johnson said, is responsible for the maintenance of everything in the city’s rights of way, easements and sidewalks. The grounds department is responsible for maintaining the public spaces in the city, including flowerbeds, shrubberies, tree canopies and any of the public grounds. The building and properties department is responsible for maintaining all public structures, including custodial work.

“Then we have mowing, which is just that. They mow all of the grass along every street and every right of way within Daphne. It is a big job,” Johnson said.

The public works department also encompasses mechanical maintenance. The department takes care of all the machinery owned and operated by the city, which saves the city money by eliminating the need for outside mechanics.  All of the solid waste in the city is handled by public works as well. 

The department has 60 employees and has held a public works day for the past 10 years.