Public Works Pipeline

An IntervIew wIth JAmes mcGonAGle DPw DIrector cIty of newton, mA

Will you please provide us with some insight into your background, education, and history that led you into your current position? I graduated from Ohio Technical College in 1986 and shortly after went to work for the Town of Groton, CT as a fleet mechanic. After being with Groton for over 20 years, I accepted a position with the City of Boston as Director of Central Fleet, overseeing the City’s municipal fleet of over 1,200 vehicles. In 2015, I was appointed the Commissioner of Public Works in Newton, where I reside today.

Please give us a brief description of

Newton regards make-up of the DPW, population, and infrastructure statistics? Newton’s DPW is comprised of the Water/Sewer/Stormwater, Streets, Transportation, Engineering, Sustainable Materials (trash and recycling), Customer Service, Business Office, and Fleet divisions. The City is over 18 square miles with a population of just under 90,000 residents and is served by 201 DPW employees with a $95 million annual operating budget. Newton has two major DPW facilities that service over 274 lane miles of streets with water, sewer and stormwater traversing through the entire area.

What do you currently see as the most pressing infrastructure needs for the City in the next few years, and is there a 5-year Asset Management Plan in place to address those needs?

Our most pressing needs are currently street and sidewalk rehabilitation and maintenance where we are currently spending $9.5 million per year to address these needs and bring our average Pavement Condition Index (PCI) to over 80 by 2028. We currently have an aggressive water/sewer cleaning and lining program in place, spending over $9 million a year. The most challenging need is addressing our phosphorus reduction required by the EPA. We have been incorporating new stormwater infrastructure into all new projects along with increasing our street sweeping program to try and meet these aggressive and extremely costly NPDES requirements. We do have a 5-year Capital Improvement Program which is updated bi-annually and includes over $530 million of ongoing and upcoming projects throughout the City.

Federal ARPA Funds and the recent

Federal Infrastructure Bill are offering record-setting financial assistance to Massachusetts Cities and Towns for infrastructure improvements over the next several years. What is Newton’s typical annual capital improvement budget for horizontal construction projects, and are there some projects coming out to bid in 2023 that would interest UCANE contractors? continued on page 35

Just the water/sewer and streets annual spending is over $20 million. The City has received ARPA funding which the Mayor has appropriated to many areas across the City including street work, traffic calming projects, intersection and village enhancement projects all of which are in place, going to bid and/or in design.

Do you see any roadblocks or impediments that would prevent the City from accessing or utilizing the State and Federal funds in order to achieve the City’s current infrastructure improvement goals, and do you have any recommendations on how to address those impediments? The ARPA funds have been distributed so we don’t see any issue accessing and utilizing those. Some of the federal funds and grants can be time consuming and complicated. To access these funds we have been contracting with our consultants that specialize in these areas and have the expertise and knowledge putting us in a better position to receive the funding while reducing the required inhouse staff time. n

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