[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: Public Works - Great Job for the City

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Rait, Maureen


Dear Macon,

Thank you for taking the time to provide this feedback about the efforts of our city employees.   I will share this with the staff.   The recovery from the 2013 Flood has demonstrated that we are all in this together and the collaboration across the entire organization with the community has been extraordinary!
 
Mo 
 
From: Cowles, Macon

Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 9:00 AM
To: Rait, Maureen; Brautigam, Jane
Cc: HOTLINE
Subject: Public Works - Great Job for the City

Dear Mo,

I wanted you especially to hear this so that you can pass it along to the dedicated workers who maintain our roads, bike paths, sidewalks and infrastructure—seen and unseen.

Riding to Longmont Sunday with a group of cycling friends, I spoke with someone who lives in the vicinity of 14th and Mariposa. I have known him a long time, but had not seen him since the summer of 2013.

He expressed thanks and admiration for the work that was done by City of Boulder Public Works employees after the flood of 2013. He commented that this work had recently been discussed at a neighborhood party, and that many neighbors chimed in, expressing surprise and thanks that the City Public Works Department had repaired damaged roads and culverts in their neighborhood so promptly after the flood.

This same man substantially remodeled his home four years ago. At that time, he was annoyed that the Building Department made him elevate his house two feet in order to keep it out of the flood waters, and characterized it as unwanted and unreasonable interference with his property—something that required extra expense, but was unreasonable to do. In the aftermath of the flood, however, he has changed his mind, and now acknowledges that the code provision that required him to raise his house two feet saved him from grief and expense when flood waters rushed down the streets in the Columbine and Mariposa neighborhood of lower Chautauqua.

Many people’s feelings about government, top to bottom, is strongly influenced by the experience that they have had with the last government employee with whom they had contact. The fine work that is done by the people in the City Public Works Department reflects well on the whole City. It is a reflection of the fact that we are all in this together, and that it is important that we perform well and as competently as the employees of Public Works did in this instance.

I take my hat off to Public Works today, and thank you all for setting a high bar for the rest of us who perform public duties.

Macon Cowles
Boulder City Council Member
1726 Mapleton Ave.
Boulder, Colorado 80304
CowlesM at bouldercolorado.gov
(303) 638-6884