THIS IS AN ARCHIVED NEWS STORY FROM 2020 AND THE CONTENTS OF THIS ARTICLE MAY NO LONGER APPLY. FOR THE LATEST COMMUNITY NEWS CLICK HERE.
The City of Newcastle Public Works Department (PW) is responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the City’s physical assets. This includes the obvious things like roads and bridges, sidewalks, parks and trails, buildings, and planter strips; and, the not so obvious things like our stormwater system, emergency management, ADA accessibility, solid waste collection, and signs. With 12 full time staff, PW has the largest budget of any department in Newcastle. It is split into three divisions: engineering, surface water management (SWM), and maintenance.
ENGINEERING
PW Engineering contains 2.5 employees who manage the planning and construction of publicly owned infrastructure in Newcastle including roads, bridges, and sidewalks. This involves selecting and hiring engineering consultants to design projects and then managing contracts with private construction companies that build the projects. Employees also assist with review of private development plans; coordinate the placement of utilities like electricity, cable, gas, and water in City Right-of-Way; manage traffic; plan and develop city parks and trails; and inspect private development in Newcastle.
SURFACE WATER MANAGEMENT
PW Surface Water Management (SWM) has 4.5 employees. SWM employees are responsible for managing Newcastle’s storm and surface water utility and complying with the City’s NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) Permit. Learn more about the permit here. SWM employees inspect all public and private stormwater systems in Newcastle and ensure all systems are properly maintained, educate the public about common sources of pollution, work to prevent flooding in our community, manage projects to repair and upgrade our stormwater system, and respond to spills or pollution entering the stormwater system.
MAINTENANCE
PW Maintenance has 5 full time employees and up to 4 summer seasonal employees. Citizens frequently see PW Maintenance staff working in Newcastle. They perform a wide range of tasks and have an extensive skill set ranging from driving deicer and snow plow trucks to repairing irrigation systems to managing maintenance contracts. Maintenance staff are always taking on new projects. Their responsibilities include setup and cleanup for special events like Newcastle Days, inspecting playground equipment, restocking bags in doggy bag stations, repairing potholes and sidewalks, and keeping our trails passable. In the cold and wet months our PW Maintenance staff keep Newcastle moving by applying deicer to our roads when temperatures drop and plowing our roads when we have snow.
DIRECTOR
PW is guided by one director who also coordinates IT for all city staff, manages cell tower leases on Newcastle property, serves as risk manager for City infrastructure and facilities, and is our emergency management coordinator in the event of a major emergency like COVID-19.
PW welcomes input from our citizens! The best way to reach us is to call City Hall at 425.649.4143. Let us know about issues with streets or traffic signals, trees, stormwater, parks, or trails or by reporting it at newcastlewa.gov/report.