Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories examining blue-collar jobs that, as “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe said, “make civilized life possible for the rest of us.” This is an inside look at “Blue Collar Kansas.”

City of Great Bend Public Works Director Jason Cauley says his dedicated staff are the ones people only seem to notice when something goes wrong.

Great Bend’s Public Works Department encompasses four divisions - Streets, Utilities, Engineering, and Code Enforcement. All are rarely noticed, Cauley said, but all are the very definition of essential when it comes to daily life in Great Bend.

“If everything’s functioning well, then we’re doing our jobs well.”

The downside to that, Cauley said, is that his people often get the most attention when something’s not working right. 

“Without them, there’s a lot of things that would not function,” Cauley said. “A lot of our stuff that we work on is out of sight, out of mind, until something goes wrong.”

The crews that make up these divisions do a great deal of work for fairly small numbers of staff, Cauley staff, 

But what is it exactly that these often unheralded, behind-the-scenes people do, anyway? Cauley stopped by the Great Bend Tribune office last week to offer insight into how his staff helps keep Great Bend running smoothly.

Street Department

If it has to do with Great Bend’s streets, this is the team that handles it. 

They handle all the concrete and asphalt work that goes into maintaining, repairing, and replacing the many miles of Great Bend’s streets and alleyways, including excavations, forms and pouring. But maintaining the streets is about more than just concrete and asphalt, and fixing cracks and potholes, Cauley said.

When nasty Kansas weather arrives, these are the guys out prepping for icy roads and clearing the debris after the storms have rolled through. The department also works to maintain street signs and pavement markings within the city limits. 

In addition to street maintenance work encompassing concrete, asphalt and stormwater gutter work, the Street Department is responsible for maintaining Great Bend’s Compost Site where residents dispose of organic waste, as well as maintaining the city’s flood dike and ditch on the north bank of the Arkansas River.

All this is done by a staff of nine full-time street department employees.

Keeping everything up can be a challenge for a staff of nine, when sometimes even routine maintenance jobs can take anywhere from three men to the entire crew to complete. And many projects take more man hours than most people may think, Cauley said.

Utilities/Wastewater

Where most of the Street Department’s work is visible to the public, much of the work for the Utilities Department is buried underground. They keep Great Bend’s miles of pipes flowing smoothly, and when things do, they are the ones who go most unnoticed.

The department encompasses water, wastewater and collections divisions. Across the three divisions, the department has 16 employees - six water employees, six collections employees, and four full-time employees at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The six employees in the Water Division are responsible for everything about Great Bend’s water lines, including underground transmission lines, water wells, and installation and disconnection of services. When the water is flowing properly from Great Bend taps, these are the guys responsible. Cauley said the department services lines for about 6,500 business and residential customers, including the Great Bend Municipal Airport and Industrial Park.

It is a physically demanding job requiring long hours and frequent exposure to the harshest of Kansas weather conditions, Cauley said.

“When it’s coldest, that’s when these guys are working the most,” Cauley said. When the polar vortex plunged large swaths of the country into sub-zero temperatures in February 2021, for example, water department employees were putting in 14-16 hour days to repair freezing water meters and water lines.

The six employees in the Collections Division are responsible for keeping Great Bend’s sewage and wastewater lines flowing properly. They are responsible for inspecting, cleaning, flushing and repairs of the approximately 90 miles of sewer lines in Great Bend, as well as 21 lift stations that carry wastewater to the city’s sewage treatment plant.

When it gets there, it’s in the hands of the four employees that make sure the waste water doesn’t stay wastewater.

It all adds up to a lot of long hours of physically demanding week. 

Code Enforcement

While Code Enforcement is not as physically demanding as the street and water divisions, Cauley said those responsible for enforcing Great Bend’s building and refuse codes experience a lot of mental fatigue.

This is the department that ensures Great Bend’s properties stay clean, and its buildings stay safe. It is the most visible job in the public works department, Cauley said. In addition to building inspections for potentially unsafe structures, the team is also responsible for enforcing codes related to vegetation, trash and refuse, vehicles and graffiti.

But it can also be one of the most challenging, he said. The nature of code enforcement means they are often dealing with unhappy residents and property owners, which can be emotionally draining.

Engineering

The fourth department, the Department of Engineering, is a single-person department that is contracted out by the City of Great Bend.

What can you do?

Cauley said residents play an important part in making his staff’s demanding work a little bit easier, simply by treating the city’s spaces – and its employees – with proper respect. That means not doing things that damage public spaces such as the dike.

Though it’s easy to notice when things are not working right, Cauley said it’s important to recognize the effort his staff put in to make sure you don’t notice them. He wants to make sure they’re acknowledged for the effort they put in.

“Our guys do work hard. They do go out and do the jobs to their best of the best of your abilities,” he said.

If there is a blue-collar job you think deserves recognition and would like to see featured, email Daniel Kiewel at dkiewel@gbtribune.com.