By Lori Culpepper
Photo by Neal Wagner
The City of Alabaster Public Works Department includes services like household trash pick-up, limb service, rubbish pick-up, and much more. Along with his teams, Public Works Department Head, Mark Harris, has been helping provide reliability with these services since 2005. As a resident of Alabaster for 62 years, Harris is married with one son and three grandchildren.
In 2023, residents will see the Public Works department continuing in much the same fashion to provide these crucial services on a regular and dependable basis. However, in recent years, the department has had to make changes and adjustments due to a variety of reasons.
With these changes, new initiatives, and no two days that are the same, Harris says that his job is never boring, which is one of his favorite things about it. “Every day is different, and we always have issues to address. It’s never the same routine.” He adds that he’s in the office 20 to 30 percent of the time and out and about with his crews the rest.
His crews do much more than many Alabaster residents may realize. “The Public Works department handles our Sanitation Division and Street Department, which include weekly household cart pick-up, weekly limb service and debris pick-up, and monthly junk and rubbish removal,” he says.
But there’s more to it than that. “We’re really like the frontline folks. We get just about every call for any reason. We’re the people who ice the roads, and we cut trees and limbs that fall after a storm,” he says. Public Works also handles other emergency issues related to weather, drainage issues, maintenance of city streets and signs, maintenance of right-of-ways and street lights, minor road repairs, mosquito control spraying, and more. “We’re kind of like first responders in some aspects, because we’re always there and always working. We’re 24/7; it’s not an 8 to 5 job. We get calls at all times of the day and night,” Harris says.
This was also true during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included challenges for Public Works. “Like everything else, the last few years have brought a lot of change due to the pandemic,” he says. “During that time, we never missed a service. We didn’t have work from home opportunities, we were frontline workers.” And it was extra work since so many more people were home so much more of the time. Harris says they saw an increase of about 300 tons of household trash during the first year of the pandemic.
Another thing he thinks many Alabaster residents may not know is that the City of Alabaster handles household trash pick-up in house. The city made this change in January of 2018, primarily because of customer-service issues with previous contractors. While they tried their best to resolve complaints and issues, there was little they could do.
The city purchased all necessary equipment in 2017, hired a new crew two months prior to the change so they could complete all necessary training, and delivered new City of Alabaster carts early so that there would be a smooth transition for everyone involved. They started running five trucks daily and have now added a sixth truck two days a week because of the increase in volume. Harris says the change has been important for the city and very successful.
“Other cities have recently been struggling with contractors when it comes to trash pick-up. But we’re not,” he says. He adds that a self-sustaining sanitation department eliminates many challenges, because when a contractor can’t provide the service, there are no other means for trash pick-up. In that situation, the city has no control or the ability to fix the problem. Harris says he’s so thankful the city took over trash pick-up when they did.
“Most contractors are hurting right now. We have an increase in disposal costs, increased fuel expenses, and a labor shortage,” he says. They are struggling, but we are not. We’ve never missed a service or a complete route. We’re in very good shape, and the city is very fortunate they made the decision to take it in house.”
The change comes with more control for Harris and his team since they can more quickly and easily respond to issues and correct them within 24 hours. “If we have a miss or a broken cart, we get those types of things taken care of quickly.” Harris also says he has great teams working in the Sanitation Division and the Street Department. They work well together, including a sanitation supervisor who coordinates all services provided on a daily basis and addresses and corrects any issues that come up. “It’s taken care of. We could not do that when we contracted it out,” he says. “We always know what’s happening, and that’s a huge benefit to Alabaster residents.”
This exceptional service will continue in the years to come, and Harris is proud of how the Public Works department has handled recent challenges and changes. He says they are a better department because of it, and he is especially proud of how the sanitation department has risen to the challenge of providing in house track pick-up service in such a successful manner.