Town of Greenwich Community First

The Department of Public Works is one of the largest departments in Town with six divisions: Highway, Waste Disposal, Building Construction and Maintenance, Building Inspection, and Sewer, all being supported by DPW Administration. Over 165 employees report to the Commissioner of Public Works. Our various divisions are responsible for Town infrastructure including bridges, sidewalks, roads, town buildings and sewers. 

The DPW - Highway Division maintains 265 miles of public roads, 30 off-street parking areas and the structures within its right-of-way including stormwater drains, curbing, approximately 130 miles of sidewalk, 130 trash receptacles; provides leaf collection on public roads in R-20 building zones and below; maintains traffic signals; and installs signs and pavement markings. The Highway Division provides many other services to the Town. These include snow and ice control, street sweeping, maintenance of certain Board of Education infrastructure as will as important ongoing capital programs such as paving maintenance and highway maintenance. This latter program includes work to maintain over 10,000 catch basins, sidewalks, curbs, fences and guiderails across the Town. Altogether, the Highway Division functions as a well organized and dependable service provider for the town. 

The Waste Disposal Division of Public Works provides solid waste disposal services to the public.  Services provided include: disposal of solid waste materials - regular household and commercial trash, over-sized bulky waste (construction & demolition material), organic waste (yard waste), single stream recyclables, other recyclables, and household hazardous waste. This Division conducts outreach to its customers and its work with resident participation in the recycling area has led Greenwich to have one of the highest rates in the state.  Holly Hill is an extremely busy facility which operates efficiently with a small number of full time staff. 

The Building Construction and Maintenance Division (BC&M)  is responsible for the administration, planning and execution of all construction and maintenance activities for town owned buildings; except marine docking facilities and buildings assigned to the Board of Education. BC&M deals with 136 locations throughout Town, including Town Hall, the Metro-North Railroad sites, Town buildings leased by outside groups and many other facilities. This Division is constantly “rolling with the punches” accommodating and re-modeling various departments and buildings as needs and staff grow and evolve. 

The Engineering Division has responsibility for the planning, design, and construction administration of Town capital improvement projects and for providing professional engineering services for comprehensive reviews and reports on private development plans submitted to the Town’s Land Use Commissions.  Engineering handles traffic engineering, the bridge program (75 bridges), stormwater planning and improvement design, and other capital projects to better town infrastructure such as sidewalks, drainage, dams etc.. Engineering coordinates with Highway and many other stakeholders to arrive at maintainable, practical, and safe designs. We are fortunate to have well-trained engineers on staff who are often tapped to help other DPW divisions when their expertise is needed. 

The Building Inspection Division is responsible for the administration (and State mandated enforcement) of the Connecticut State Building Code and all other codes and standards referenced therein.  These responsibilities include reviewing applications for building permits (including monitoring other Town agency approvals prior to permit acceptance), reviewing plans for code compliance, issuing building permits and associated trade permits, inspecting work done under said permits, monitoring building permit conditions as well as other Town agency approvals and issuing a Certificate of Occupancy/Compliance for each permit. This Division follows strict and not always popular regulations; but they are adept at dealing with the public in a polite and professional way. 

The Sewer Division is responsible for operation, maintenance and repair of 185 miles of sewer lines, 29 pumping stations, over 350 individual grinder pumps currently installed in the Milbrook and North Mianus sewer extension areas, and the Grass Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, all of which must comply with federal and state regulations.  The Sewer Division works to implement additional compliance outreach programs to control fats, oils and grease entering the sewers from food establishments and stormwater from illegal connections.  All this work leads to an excellent record of complying with treatment plant discharge limits to protect human health and Long Island Sound. 

DPW’s complement of professional and administrative staff are committed to the proper and effective maintenance of the town infrastructure and facilities. It is due to the diligence of our staff that the sewers function properly, the roadways are paved and bridges are safe. DPW staff are often times unsung heroes during storms both major and minor removing tree debris or snow from roads, keeping sewers running during power outages and inspecting houses for safety. Hurricane Sandy was a true testament to the fact that our staff are a critical component of the Town’s backbone. All of us in DPW take our jobs seriously and work as a team to keep the Town running smoothly in both fair and foul weather.