Snowplows beautified by school art

Snowplows beautified by school art

Tony Fietzer

Street Superintendent City of Green Bay, Wisconsin Member, APWA Emerging Leaders Academy Class V

n a warm day in May 2011, I was sitting in my office thinking snow! I guess that comes with living in Green Bay, WI (aka: the Frozen Tundra). Although at this time of year in Wisconsin we generally have relatively comfortable weather, snowplowing still represents so much of what we do for the city in the public’s eye. Being that we are judged often by residents based on how well we plow snow we sought out a way to incorporate a positive influence with our snowplows. I contacted various Green Bay public schools asking for them and their students to join our department in painting murals on our snowplows. As I began to speak with principals and art teachers, I could tell immediately that they couldn’t wait to join in on our project. The City of Green Bay has 36 public schools in the school district. Knowing that we couldn’t involve every school this year, I selected 10 schools to be involved in this project. Of the 10 schools, five were on the east side of town and five on the west side of town.

In speaking with the principals and art teachers from the selected schools, they were asked to paint a mural on the snowplow that they felt either represented their school or city, or a mural that they felt would be fun to portray. The school staff welcomed this with open arms and in September 2011 our staff dropped the plows off at the schools for painting.

The plows that were picked to be painted were the same plows that traditionally are assigned to plow the neighborhood that the school

is in. This was done for the students and their parents to be able to see the plow that their school painted and to give a sense of ownership to their neighborhood. The plows were dropped off at the schools and left there for one month to be painted. Being that the majority of our snowplows are painted orange from the factory, our DPW Labor Association (employees) donated the funds to purchase white paint primer for the school to paint the backdrop of the plow.

The schools and students took off and ran with this idea and the final result was outstanding. We currently have snowplows that look so amazing, that we would rather show them off all winter, instead of putting them out in harsh winter elements.

On October 12, 2011, we had a press conference to show off the students’ artwork. We had approximately 2530 students from the various schools, and listening to them during their television interviews, I could hear the pride in their voices. During a time where money is tight everywhere, let us not forget that sometimes things that bring the biggest rewards are things that cost the least.

Tony Fietzer can be reached at (920) 4923737 or tonyfi@ci.green-bay.wi.us.

Nominations for National Board Positions Call for appointments

Men make history and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better. – Harry S. Truman

APWA is soliciting nominations for national offices for the August 2012-August 2013 year. Step forward and offer your expertise to your profession. Contact your local chapter to let them know you have an interest in serving. Information on appointments may be obtained from Cindy Long at National Headquarters, clong@ apwa.net or (800) 848-APWA, ext. 5220. Nominations must arrive at headquarters by close of business April 2, 2012. Ballots will be posted online July 6, with an August 3 deadline. The 2012-2013 APWA Board of Directors will be introduced at the 2012 Congress in Anaheim.

APWA is issuing the annual call for appointments to national level committees and task forces. If you are interested in serving at the national level, please visit the website at www.apwa.net under “Members Only” to nominate yourself or someone else. For more information contact Cindy Long at clong@apwa.net or call (816) 5955220 to determine the positions open. Nominations are open from January 3, 2012 to March 1, 2012.