An Interview with Chris Bouchard DPW Director – Town of South Hadley Chris Bouchard graduated from Westfield High School and worked as a mechanic/fleet manager for several large area contractors. He started his public works career in the Town of Longmeadow in 1999, where he worked for four years. Chris then accepted a position with the Town of Otis and worked there for 10 years, where he became Highway Superintendent and also earned his grade 4 wastewater operator’s license. In 2013, he accepted the Highway Superintendent position with the Town of Becket and worked there for seven years. Most recently in April of 2020, he began his current job with the Town of South Hadley as Director of Public Works. Chris has found the Public Works field to be very rewarding and challenging, where someone can grow and advance their career through hard work and effort. He thanks his peers in Berkshire County Highway Association, Tri County Highway Association, MHA, BayState Roads Program, and the MADOT D-1 State Aid office for helping him to grow and advance professionally. MARCH, 2021
Can you give us a brief description of South Hadley regarding the make-up of the DPW, population, and infrastructure statistics? South Hadley is a small town with a population of 17,300. As Public Works Director I oversee and coordinate six departments including Highway, Parks, Tree Department, Solid Waste, Administration, and the Water Pollution Control Division. We take care of about 85 miles of road and over 100 miles of sewer lines and storm drains. The water system below our streets is managed by South Hadley’s 2 Water Districts, but the sewer lines, that service about 95% of the properties in Town is the DPW’s responsibility. We also maintain and operate five pump stations and our 4.2MGD Treatment Facility, built in 1960 and expanded in 1980, which is located, through inter-municipal agreements, in Chicopee. Above ground our DPW team takes care of 18 sports fields, playgrounds, and parks in addition to all public properties and the Town Common. South Hadley continued on page 43
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