Sacramento County is proud to recognize and honor the folks that often go unseen – County Municipal Services employees who deliver public works services that make the communities in the County great places to live, work, and play. National Public Works Week, May 15-21, is a chance to spotlight the many County employees who deliver these services:
- Road and bridge planning, construction, and maintenance
- Curbside waste pickup, recycling, and operation of the Kiefer Landfill
- Water supply and drainage
- Land use planning, environmental review, engineering, and building permits
- Management and inspection of County construction projects
The theme of this year’s National Public Works Week is “Public Works Always There” which highlights the importance of public works employees. These services are imperative to the success of our region and without the dedicated employees planning, maintaining and ensuring services are not interrupted, everyday life and commerce would suffer.
Public Works Week began in 1960 in an effort to educate the public on the role public works employees’ play in the daily services that governments provide:
Transportation is responsible for planning, improving, operating and maintaining the system that serves unincorporated area citizens, regional traffic and commerce. Department staff works to address community transportation needs with projects to improve the County system of roadways and bridges. These projects range from major roadway improvements to ongoing pavement repair and maintenance programs. Transportation also partners on projects to revitalize communities, support economic development and improve the regional transportation network.
Waste Management and Recycling handles solid waste and recyclable materials collection for more than 150,000 Sacramento County customers. They are committed to providing excellent customer service, while maintaining state-of-the-art operations – as well as being stewards of the environment – for example, they
planted 135 native oak trees at the landfill to transform a barren hill into a beautiful landscape for native wildlife and to filter ground water!
The
Sacramento County Department of Water Resources (DWR) provides drainage, flood control, stormwater management, and water supply services to various service areas of unincorporated Sacramento County and the Cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, and Rancho Cordova. DWR consists of two distinct business units: the Sacramento County Stormwater Utility and the
Sacramento County Water Agency (SCWA). The department is responsible for supplying and delivering high quality drinking water to over 50,000 customers within its service area and actively participates in strategic regional planning for future water supplies. Drainage management responsibilities include design, construction and maintenance of 1324 miles of pipe, 38,000 drainage inlets and 323 miles of creeks and channels. The department manages outreach programs to educate its customers on
water conservation,
flood preparedness and Stormwater quality.
Community Development provides building permits and inspections, surveys and site improvement, planning and zoning as well as handling
code enforcement services for residential and business communities.
Next time you get fresh water from your faucet, or put your waste cans out on the curb for pickup, or exit smoothly from Highway 50 to Watt, take a moment to appreciate the many men and women who work so hard to making our lives better – in fact, if you see one of them out and about, give them a high-five.
