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DPW Team
Here's just a few of the members of the Putnam Department of Public Works, with one of the town's snow plow trucks. Left to right: Director Jerry Beausoleil, Dave Dumas, Brian Bardier, Kevin Lamothe, Roland Duquette, Aaron Sweatman, Mike Viens, Tom Campbell, Joey Martel. Linda Lemmon photos.
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Getting wood ready for River Fire.
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM --- Thousands of spectators stand along the banks of the Quinebaug, thrilled by the beauty of the River Fire cauldrons, burning bright, unaware of how those handsome pots came to be.
Down the hill at Rotary Park, closer to the falls, stand some members of the Putnam Department of Public Works team who not only keep the fires burning but actually created those fire pots.
Inspired by the Water Fire at Providence, Putnam had for years put into its budget the sizeable sum it would take to purchase those fire pots to grace the Quinebaug. And each year, the expense was too much and the pots were taken out of the budget.
Enter the town's DPW crew. "We basically were sitting around and said 'We can do it,'" according to Joey Martel, a 30-year DPW veteran and the crew leader.
Crew members started brainstorming, tossing around ideas of how to make the River Fire pots the New England way --- frugally and with items already around.
Mike Viens, an 18-year veteran at the DPW, kiddingly referred to as the "Mad Scientist," came up with the main design. The "dish" portion of the fire pots is made from the end cap of sewer tankers from Anderts in Eastford. The buoys that keep the cauldrons steady are plastic barrels from Rogers.
"We made them out of stuff we had kicking around," Viens said. Experimenting with their prototypes at the Rhode Island Line road pond, they discovered that four buoys are needed for each cauldron, not three.
Creating 20 pots took about two weeks. Viens said Modern Lumber donated a tool they needed for strapping and because a tool didn't exist to bend metal to cover the plastic barrels, the crew invented a tool to do the job.
Besides Martel and Viens, crew members include: Aaron Sweatman, Kevin Lamothe, John Williams, roland Duquette, Brian Bardier, Tom Campbell, Dave Dumas, Alan Guertin, Lee Smith and Don Hodges.
Each member of the "DPW family" brings something to the table, Martel said. In addition to the "regular" jobs that folks see them performing throughout the year, including street and sidewalk sweeping, snowplowing, road work, and much more, there are many jobs that seem to get done, almost by magic.
For example, Martel said that Don Hodges is the guy responsible for keeping the river banks, Rotary Park and eight or 10 parks in town looking good. "He takes real pride in his work," Martel said. Hodges also does the snow removal and hand shoveling near town buildings.
The crew has moved bleachers at St. Marie Greenhalgh. They've also moved furniture and done work at the library and town hall. They perform yeoman's jobs before the River Fire, concerts, the car show and did extensive work for the town's 250th anniversary in 2005. They put up and take down Christmas lights and decorations and banners. They pick up litter, chip brush, do special pickups, including leaf vacuuming. "We do so much," said Martel.
Martel said, "The town does lots of things. And often something comes up at the last minute and you have to figure out how to get it done."
Beausoleil said the group is exceptional at figuring out the safest and best way to get something done. "They're a great team,"
An example is the crew using a fire truck to blow out a clogged pipe on Mantup Road. "There's lots of cooperation between town departments," Martel said. "In some towns, there's just feuding. I don't know why. Not here."
At the DPW garage on Fox Road, their home away from home, the crew built their office, DPW Director Jerry Beausoleil's office and they just recently built the salt/sand "tent."
Kevin Lamothe, who has been part of the crew for five years, said he likes the diversity of the job the best. "We all bring our own personalities to the job," he added.
Martel said, "If something critical comes up, all the guys come together at the drop of a hat."
Beausoleil admires his resourceful crew. "What they've got is street smarts."