Dealing with our Crap

“I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you.”  ~ anonymous

I think it is fair to say that those who have and are holding an office in public service at the local government level have had their fair share of criticisms as of late.  Our newspaper alone have published letters from rate payers that have had to be edited removing the more colourful phrases aimed at some holding office in local councils.  Others have written letters that I could not publish that were directed to specific people working in public service.  Yes, it is fair to say that one of mankind's past times are to point out the weaknesses, or perceived weakness of others.

Public service is and always will be an extremely under appreciated position to hold.  Whether a person works in law enforcement, local government, public administration or sanitary engineer, the daily tasks go by and not too many people will thank them.  The only real exception to that rule are firefighters.  They tend to be appreciated on many levels.  The image of fire conjures up a well of emotions that tend to make you appreciate a firefighter, even if your family has never been touched by the threat.

But how about those people that go to work at your local government office?  Like your city or town administration or public works.  Has anyone ever taken a second look at the crews working in your community?  I know that in the past I have seen in the city eight people tending a flower bed, usually with two public workers bent over working the soil, a third leaning on a hoe, and the others staring at the work in progress.  That image of the public servant does not garnish much in the way of compliments.  I guess it is fair to say that at every sector of the workforce we can find examples of poor performance.   But is it fair to judge all public servants by the actions of a few?  That question alone can be answered either yes or no, depending on the situation.

So what is this all about?  In a word it is simply about crap.  Yes, I really do mean crap, as in human refuse.  I live in what I have always believed to be one of God's chosen towns.  I have lived in the town of Millet, Alberta since 1992.  I have seen Millet go from some dirt streets in front of my home and buildings in ill-repair to what we have today.  A town where we have pretty neighbourhoods, good services and new developments all designed to create a quaint small town atmosphere.  Millet, like many communities, has its share of problems, but for the most part it is a great place to live.  Like many small towns in our region, our town council, and town administration have come under fire by the rate payers. Some complaints are valid and many not.  But last week something took place that really demonstrated the level of service that the residents of Millet enjoy.

What could only be described as a near disaster, was not only controlled by the public servants, but was eventually repaired.  A complete failure in the main line leading to the Millet sewage lagoons was blocked ,threatening to backup human waste through floor drains of every home in the town.  Waste water from over 800 homes was not being taken away to the lagoons, and as a result began to back up into the system.  Eventually, without the blockage repaired, human sewage would have visited every home owner in the town.

What turned out to be a massive juggling act for the town officials, public works employees and private contractors, allowed most residents to go about their business in blissful ignorance of the oozing threat to their families.

For one week, twenty-four hours a day, large sewage trucks pumped the town’s waste out of the main line from the final pump house.  A temporary heavy duty pump was rolled onto the site and a one kilometer hose was surface run to the lagoons.  Between the trucks and line, with the residents going about their business; washing laundry, flushing toilets, taking showers, the waste kept coming.  Add to that the 40mm plus of rain that fell from thunderstorms during that week and our public servants had their hands full.

I guess it was a simple fact that they were able to stave off the sewers from backing up into our basements and did so without nary a hiccup in service speaks well of the Town of Millet Public Works and the Town Administration.  They handled what could have been a damaging situation and did so without any fanfare.

If we feel we can judge all public servants by the performance of a few, then it is fair to say that this situation is a prime example of the type of performance all of us in each community receives.  For their hard work, and to all our public servants in the region and especially the Town of Millet,thank you for a job well done.