Council told Public Works is trying to do "more with less"

BERLIN — “We’re trying to do more with less,” Public Works Director Eric Grenier told the city council last week as he delivered a detailed budget presentation of a department struggling with aging equipment and minimum staffing levels.

Grenier noted that the number of Public Works employees has steadily declined, from 62 in 1973 to 26 currently. The department is responsible for road and sidewalk maintenance, winter plowing and snow removal, retaining walls and guardrails, cemeteries, the sewer and stormwater collection systems, curbside pick up of municipal solid waste and recycling, and maintaining the city’s over 122 motor vehicle fleet.