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If the staff at Millwood City Hall were a football team, Cleve McCoul and Paul Allen would be undervalued offensive linemen.
The two veterans of the public works department – McCoul joined the city in 1980 and Allen started in 1984 – have been repairing roads, installing signs, maintaining the water system and carrying out other essential tasks, typically without much notoriety.
Allen said working in the trenches of municipal government has just become “part of the job.”
“We take pride in our own work,” he said. “Usually, most of the people we hear from have some sort of complaint. Occasionally someone will send a card thanking us for clearing away leaves or snow – and that’s nice.”
Millwood Mayor Dan Mork said McCoul and Allen have been a dependable part of the city’s infrastructure even though every resident in the town of just over 1,700 may not be aware of their contributions.
“I think people appreciate them but they don’t know how much work they do,” Mork said. “They do a great job.”
Last year around this time, the duo was doing their best to clear Millwood streets after a record snowstorm. It took two trucks about eight hours to address major arterials like Argonne and dozens of residential roads covering just under one square mile.
McCoul, who has served as public works director since 1982 said the city’s new plow trucks, purchased in 1999 and 2001, make the task easier than when he began over 30 years ago and drove a 1959 International with a 10-foot shovel that wouldn’t rotate.
“It hardly went fast enough to push the snow,” he said.
Allen said this year’s relatively mild winter has meant time “to catch up on paperwork.”
“The break has been nice,” he said.
From rapidly changing computer systems to electronic water meters, McCoul
said the high-tech advancements have meant a learning curve over the years.
“It’s just changed so much,” he said. “There was a time when you could be in public works if you wore overalls and drove a truck. It’s way more technical than it used to be.”
Changes in the landscape of the city have also meant added responsibility for McCoul and Allen, such as this summer when a $1.3 million renovation of Argonne Road created a series of challenges for motorists, pedestrians and business owners.
The public works department worked with on-site contractors from early May until late August, acting as the glue for a complex project that transformed the city’s main thoroughfare.
“Cleve and Paul’s institutional knowledge was so valuable in the design and construction phases,” said Matt Gillis of Welch/Comer Engineers who worked as project manager for the refurbishing of Argonne. “Their insight was critical to the success of that project.”
Allen said the improvements to Argonne will clear up time for the public works department which, over the years, had been spending more time repairing the road’s deteriorating surface. The city spent $30,000 in 2008 to patch up pavement problems on the busy arterial.
“I’m glad to see that get paved,” he said. “We spent a lot of time out there last year.”
While the Argonne upgrade ranks among the city’s most visible capital projects in recent years, Millwood officials say it pales in comparison to the overhaul of municipal streets that began in 1990. Public Works was at the center of a transition that involved installing new water and sewer lines throughout the city.
“We basically repaved all the roads,” Mork said.
The project, which replaced septic tanks and switched sewer treatment to a system operated by the city of Spokane, was completed in 1995. Millwood continues to operate its own municipal water utility.
While public works does bring on seasonal staff to help with maintaining the city park and other areas, McCoul and Allen are the department’s only two full-time employees and remain on call 24 hours a day.
“We’re the fire hydrant crew,” McCoul said.
McCoul, who provides a public works update at each monthly City Council meeting, said Mork has been a key in making sure the department keeps running on all cylinders.
“Whether it’s the budget or something else, he’s been really supportive,” McCoul said.
McCoul said he will likely retire in four years, meaning Allen would move into the top administrative spot.
Mork said McCoul and Allen have set a standard of quality for future public works employees – even if they aren’t featured anytime soon in a parade down Argonne Road.
“They keep the roads in good shape, look after the public grounds, maintain the signs and much more,” Mork said. “We really appreciate them.”
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By
Craig Howard
