By Allison Carrier

Joe Pallotta remembers when there was just one traffic light in Scarborough. Back in 1970, when his family moved here, “it was all fields, a farm town.” Now, there are over 40 signalized intersections and over 3,000 road lights, all of which are under his scope of responsibility as the Traffic Technician. The Town bought all the road lights from Central Maine Power in 2010 in a partnership effort with Portland and South Portland, and they are now maintained within Public Works.

Joe is still a Scarborough resident to this day and has worked for the Town his whole life. He began as a volunteer firefighter in 1983 and only recently retired from being a Call Company Firefighter three years ago after 30-plus years. His main area of expertise, though, is Public Works, where he has grown his career since 1997. Joe started as a Laborer/Plow Driver, which he continues to do, and has further refined his role with specialized certifications. He moved into the traffic light field in the early 2000s, when he took special courses for the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA). He also became a licensed arborist around this time. Equipped with these many tools in his toolbelt, here’s a look at winter day for Joe in Public Works:

6:00am Joe wakes up and starts his day by getting his 6th grade daughter ready for school. He’s on the winter schedule and works 7:00am-3:00pm on weekdays, and is on-call around the clock for road clearing when there are storms. Thankfully, it’s a clear blue-sky day.

7:00am Everyone arrives for work and gathers for morning dispatch. They get their assignments for the day and learn if there are any priorities that need immediate attention. If any traffic lights are out, this is always the top priority.

7:30/8:00am It’s time to start loading up the trucks for the day and heading out to their assignments. Joe and his colleague Ronnie handle the streetlights, so they usually go out together and start going through their Work Orders. Usually, they’re able to get through 3-4 in one day.

Their first stop is to fix a flashing traffic light in the Black Point area. The rule at Public Works is that if a light is not cycling, it’s broken. They have a stock of road lights, cables, and other parts to keep the infrastructure working.

10:00am Joe moves on to his next Work Order, trimming some tree branches in a roadway off Broadturn Road. There used to be three arborists in Public Works, but now he is the only one. This can keep him busy.

11:30am Joe and Ronnie stop at a store to grab lunch. They break earlier to try to beat the crowds and use their time more efficiently.

12:15pm Back at the Public Works facility on Washington Avenue, the crew clears the area around the large recycling bins to prepare them for being emptied. The bins are available for the public to drop off their recycling, but sometimes waste gets left outside of the bins and needs to be removed.

1:00pm Joe stops into his office to check the status of all street and road lights in town. He uses a computer system called StreetMan, new in the last few years. Every light has a signal attached on it that is synchronized with the system. On his computer, it shows a map of the town with pins indicating every light. Some are gray, meaning there’s an outage or other issue. The use of technology has come a long way and has made Scarborough safer, as issues can be addressed as they happen. Joe is on-call for major outages and says the best part of his job is being able to serve his community by keeping the infrastructure of Scarborough running smoothly.

1:30pm For his last Work Order of the day, Joe helps with the process of picking up Christmas trees from the curbside. It’s the last week of January and Public Works offers this as a service to residents for the month. Fortunately, there hasn’t been much snow yet, so the trees are easy to remove and they’ve been able to dedicate time to it without being diverted to clearing roads.

3:00pm It’s the end of the workday and there’s no sign of snow in the forecast, so Joe doesn’t expect to be called in tonight for plowing. He goes home to unwind for a bit and spend time with his wife and daughter.

7:00pm With his free time, Joe volunteers as a janitor for 2-3 hours at his daughter’s school. It’s then back home to wind down before another early start to the day. He looks forward to knowing that tomorrow’s lineup of work will be different than today’s – the unpredictability has made his 28 years with Public Works go by fast. “It seems like yesterday,” he says.

Allison Carrier is Marketing and Communications Manager for the Town of Scarborough.

(Photo courtesy of Town of Scarborough)