A Tough Year For The Highway Department

By Steve Bigham

It has been a tough year for the Public Works Department in Newtown, and not just because of its overwhelming amount of work. Department personnel say it has also been a daily challenge, particularly with many workers taking ill. And last month, longtime employee, William “Butch” Sears died. He served the town for nearly 30 years.

“This is the toughest year I’ve ever had in this department both professionally and personally,” noted Public Works Director Fred Hurley. “We lost a man, two others are out due to a heart attack and a stroke and another, who recently retired, has cancer.”

Mr Sears, 55, died May 23 at Waterbury Hospital due to kidney failure. He had been a fixture in the highway department since August 1973 when he was hired as a heavy equipment operator at the landfill. He was named crew chief in 1995.

“Butch was one of the best, not just as a worker, but as a person,” Mr Hurley said. “He brought so much to this department in terms of himself and the way he was with other people. He was in many ways the hardest working and most generous person we have here.”

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal called the loss of Mr Sears a huge loss to the town.

“He was very well liked by his fellow workers. He was a crew leader so it’s an awful big loss for us in terms of our middle management. He was a hard worker,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Sears grew up and spent most of his life in Newtown before moving to Southbury. He was well known for his love of Harley Davidson motorcycles and was often seen riding his own Harley when the  weather got nice. The highway department has long been known for its practical jokesters and Mr Sears was one of the ringleaders. Struggling with kidney failure and on dialysis, Mr Sears still put in more than a day’s work this past winter, working alongside other crewmembers as they battled the snowfall day and night. Butch was still going strong long after other workers tired.

“That was Butch,” Mr Hurley said.

The 2000-2001 winter season created many sleepless nights for the 40-member public works crew. The storms came sometimes two or three times a week, and the snow usually came on weekends and holidays.

The snow put a strain on the department and disrupted other construction work, pushing it back into spring. On top of that, the highway department has had to deal with more than its share of town projects, including a $250,000 grading project at the Amaral property along Elm Drive. That project was handed over to the highway crew after being cut from the budget a year ago. When the town needs to save a few bucks, it often calls on public works instead of a private contractor. These projects are on top of the usual road and drainage work that crews are called on to handle each year.

“I think it’s been the essence of public works, which is unpredictable and enormously diverse in what we’ve had to deal with. That’s what it’s all about,” Mr Hurley said. “We have completed very little of the stuff we had planned for this spring. Everything has been pushed back. We should be catching a breather this month to be ready to go full bore next month for road work, but we’re still going.

Mr Rosenthal said the highway department is by far the town’s most versatile agency and is looked to during good times and bad.

“Whatever needs to be done, and there isn’t someone around to do it, public works gets called,” he said.

Public Works is also working to complete the Dickinson Park bathroom project, which was placed on its task list last year. The project was supposed to be done by an outside contractor. However, no contractors expressed interest due to the small scale of the job. Mr Hurley said he hopes the project can be completed in time for the Fourth of July.