Good morning and welcome to the pre-agenda interview for Thursday, March 26th, 2026 for the director of the Department of Public Works.

Bill 230 resolution appointing John McClory as a director of the Department of Public Works.

So I will read the oath to you, and then after after that.

Oh, sorry.

My apologies.

So, director, as I believe you're aware, you we have to administer our oath to all directors within the city.

And so I'll read the earth after which you can simply say I do affirm.

Do you, John McClory, solemnly affirm that the testimony you are about to give before this council shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and do you further affirm that you will faithfully discharge the duties uh as the director of the Department of Public Works to which you have been nominated?

I affirm.

Thank you very much.

With that being said, I'll turn it over to you.

You can introduce yourself, say a little bit about yourself.

We we most of us have known you very long time now.

Um, but just tell us why you're willing to serve in this position, and then we'll turn it over for members for questions.

I have 38 years with the department.

Uh public works ran all kinds of different pieces of equipment, stuff that we had, and we don't have anymore.

And I always enjoyed my job and always enjoyed working for the city, serving the public, helping out.

Uh that's about it.

A little nervous, but we're all right, we'll get through that.

No worries.

Um, let the record reflect we've also been joined by Councilman Charlotte online.

Um, Councilwoman Salmetra?

Yeah, I I really don't have any questions for you, Don, just some comments.

I mean, thank you so much for what your willingness to serve in this capacity.

I know it's a lot, but I think you are the right person at this time, you know, uh, to get this department back on track and getting it um moving it forward.

So I really appreciate you wanting to do this and taking this challenge on.

Um, but you know, I know your background, I know your um work ethic is wonderful.

You've been great to division the fifth division, you know, you ran that like it was your own child, you know.

So it was really something special to watch.

Um that's really all I have.

I just I just think it's you're the right person for the job right now.

Definitely.

Well, thank you, Councilwoman.

I also like to say we'll learn together.

Congratulations on your job.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Let the record reflect we've also been joined uh Councilman Warwick.

Uh, Councilman Sharlin, did you have questions or comments?

Yes, thank you.

Uh good to see you there.

Sorry, I can't uh join you in person.

Uh I know it's always weird when you're at the table, and it feels like the ceiling's talking to you.

Uh so apologize for that.

Um to thank you for your willingness to serve.

Um, and I'm I'm also very thankful to have uh director who has spent time running a division.

Um, because I think largely, you know, a lot of the um a lot of the issues that we run into with public works, um, can be you know related to issues that we have at divisions.

So I wanted to touch on that by just asking a question.

Public works is such a broad department.

There's there's so many different facets between environmental service and facilities and the streets division and parks.

you know a lot of the um a lot of the the issues that we run into with public works um can be you know related to issues that we have at the divisions so i i wanted to kind of start off by just asking the question public works is such a a broad department there there's so many different facets between environment service and facilities and the streets division and parks um what do you plan on as your time as director what do you plan on emphasizing um of those uh uh different responsibilities of the uh of public works well public works we'll go with operations um i'm tired of getting beat up in in in the men and women that drive these salt trucks i'm tired of getting beat up in the media when they're out there doing a you know uh a a stressful job um so we're looking at that to get more into we're starting working on a plan well as you know two weeks after I came in we got hit with a snowstorm so uh my plans sort of got pushed back we started working on them now we have like a division the third division that we always it's always been the big division so we're looking at a plan to get them some support over there just for the winter uh some other little plans we have little simple things that make uh make sense uh we're gonna give the foreman in their divisions their own area where we're gonna expect them to ride those streets every street in their area okay see a street blade broke right at see a tire pick it up okay stuff like that little things like that make a big difference yeah I absolutely that was one of the things that you and I talked about that I was really excited to hear can you talk about um the policies that you want to have around uh abandoned tires throughout the city well I mean with the policies we have now the policies we haven't in our operations division I enforce them I mean when we're going down to low wearing a uniform I wear a uniform to think my uniform I wear a uniform if they have to wear them if the employees have to wear them I wear them so I do enforce those policies and I try to like say I lead by example do I like the pants sometimes no but I we have to wear them I wear well you you had mentioned that when we talked about um uh you know having public works employees when they see a tire making sure that they pick up a tire and not driving by the tire um and and you told a story about a traffic cone uh you know in my office could you let the rest of council know that story sure in my division I seen a cone on a sidewalk on Stewin Street I was gonna stop and pick it up and I said let me see how long it takes for somebody to pick it up week went by week and a half went by nobody picked it up so finally I said to my foreman did we not see that cone there and they were like forgot to grab it.

And I'm not dying my foreman I got great foreman I'm sure you know maybe it did slip their minds.

My foreman were really good.

I mean any one of them can step into a leadership rule and and run a division but that's what ended up happening you know I just let it there for a little bit to see what would happen and then when Deputy Director Green said something to me actually I said yeah I know it's there.

I'm just leaving it there to see how long it takes for somebody to pick it up I'd rather be them be proactive than getting three one's so it and that's really you know what I would like to see happen much more in in public works is you know I I see as some sometimes on main streets or you know often on main streets but but definitely on back streets and I know that you know a public works truck is you know or 15 public works trucks have driven by this today you know be it a an abandoned tire or a uh TV or you know a bag of trash that's ripped open or something like that and I I think of you know how many employees we have that have gone by it and have done nothing um so the neighbors could put it in 311 but why can't we just stop and take care of that while it's there um and I I would really like to see public works move to that kind of model um I think that the uh the example that I used when we talked as everyone knows I had a long uh long time in the sur in the service industry working in restaurants and there's certain things that it doesn't matter if you need to run to the kitchen to put in an order or or whatever you need to do if you you know if you walk by a table and you see that a glass of water is empty you have you have to stop what you're doing to fill that up and I would like to see public works get to the point where they stop what they're doing um uh especially the things like throwing a tire in the back of a truck or throw it you know throwing a TV in the back of the truck the because I I'm sure they're they're driving these streets to get to another job

And there are certain things that it doesn't matter if you need to run to the kitchen to put in an order or or whatever you need to do if you you know if you walk by a table and you see that a glass of water is empty you have you have to stop what you're doing to fill that up.

And I would like to see public works get to the point where they stop what they're doing especially the things like throwing a tire in the back of a truck or throw it you know throwing a TV in the back of the truck the because I I'm sure they're they're driving these streets to get to another job or for whatever reason they need to but getting them to be proactive and say hey you know it's it's only going to take a minute to pull over and throw this tire in the back of our truck here but if not, you know, on on Arlington Avenue or Warrington Avenue we've got thousands of cars that are going to drive by and it really impacts the feel of the neighborhood.

So I I would love to see us get more to that model of taking taking the time and and taking the pride of cleaning things up.

I agree and that's exactly where we're going with this with the forming you and I talked we talked about cleaning liens and what you know my big push and I hope somebody listens to me on this is that if we do clean in liens hard you know right around now when the the weather's starting to warm we won't have they won't be as exhaustive of jobs when we wait until August to start doing them.

So I really would like to see an emphasis early and often on cleaning lines there there's a lot of jobs that we can do with lawnmowers and if we wait until August we have to do them with backhoes.