Now that spring and warmer weather have officially arrived, it is not uncommon to see work begin on various projects, like road repairs, paving, planting, cleaning and more.

In Winchester, city employees do a lot of work to keep the community’s infrastructure safe, clean and in working order. One integral group of workers is the Public Works department.

Throughout the warmer months, it is not uncommon to see Public Works employees out and about repairing roads, caring for curbs and gutters, watering downtown plants and greenery, mowing right of ways, removing or trimming trees, or painting pavement markings.

While these employees are a little more visible in the spring and summer, the department works year-round. Public Works is responsible for ensuring the safety maintaining conditions of all city streets, alleys and rights of way. That includes street maintenance, like paving and mining, crack sealing and street sweeping; stormwater management, leaf collection, snow and ice removal, sign maintenance and facility maintenance.

The work they do is valuable and critical. We often point out how essential these services are, and how people often overlook these services.

This week is National Public Works Week, so we think it is critical to point out how integral the work this department does is to our community’s success. These city employees work closely with city government, business owners and others to help make our day-to-day environment the best it can be. They also help make events like the Beer Cheese Festival, Christmas parade, Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival and more happen by assisting with setup efforts and ensuring the city streets and areas are left as clean and accessible as it was before these special events.

Other agencies, like Winchester Municipal Utilities and the Clark County Road Department, fit under this umbrella as well.

We thank these employees for their efforts in the planning, building and management that keeps our city running smoothly day in and day out.