Five Questions for Rick Cooley, Operations Manager of Public Works for Carson City

On this iteration of Carson Now's Five Questions, we speak with Rick Cooley, P.E., Operations Manager for Carson City's Public Works, and gives his two cents on challenges the City faces, upcoming projects, funding, and more.

1) How did you end up as Operations Manager of Public Works?

When Public Work’s modified its organizational structure in 2018, the Operations Manager was to oversee the Landfill, Streets Division, and the Warehouse. I was already managing the Landfill and the Street Division’s responsibilities matched the skills I had acquired over past 22 years while managing Public Works construction projects for many agencies throughout Nevada. One aspect of managing Public Works projects that I took pride in was coordinating with operational divisions within Public Works. When I was asked to take on the Operations Manager position, it seemed like a natural fit for me.

2) What is the greatest challenge facing Carson City’s streets currently?

Funding. I know this is not what anyone wants to here, but it takes money and manpower to maintain all of our streets. At our current funding and staffing levels, it is simply not possible to maintain our streets and therefore they continue to degrade and will continue to do so until this issue is resolved. In the meantime, our staff refuses to be beat and continues to do the best with what they have.

Also, when we talk about “Streets” we are not only talking about filling potholes and sealing cracks in our roadways, but also street sweeping, snow plowing, storm response and repairs, sidewalk repairs and replacement, curb and gutter repairs and replacement, tree maintenance, special event traffic control, shoulder maintenance, storm drainage maintenance and repair, signage maintenance and repair, traffic stripping and markings maintenance, dead animal clean up, installation of Christmas decorations along Carson Street, and many other one-off issues that come about throughout the City during the year.

3) What are some of the biggest projects you are currently working on for the city?

Currently the biggest project I am involved in is the new scales and scale house facility at the landfill. As for the Streets Division, the City is one big project that has no end. We receive requests/concerns from citizens and City staff on a daily basis. These items need to be investigated, prioritized, and scheduled to be corrected.

4) What do you think is the single most important thing that needs to be fixed or maintained in Carson City?

The biggest challenge we face is our aging infrastructure and determining what issues need to be fixed first. Every issue that is identified is important; however, there is not enough money and resources to go around and fix every issue in a timely manner. So, we are tasked with prioritizing these issues and our list of priorities is not necessarily going to be in the same order as others think it should be.

For example, we currently have a 2.5 year backlog in concrete projects throughout the City and adding more every day. Do you prioritize these issues by severity or time on the list? If you go by severity, some issues on the list may never be completed because they are not as severe; however, I guarantee that not everyone would view the situation the same.

5) How can we fix the budget crisis the roads division is facing?

Unfortunately the simple answer to this question is money. This is definitely not the answer the general population wants to hear, but it is the only thing that can fix our ailing infrastructure. In the situation we are currently in, we could cut services in order to put more money toward projects; however, this would only cover a small fraction of the current and future needs.

Carson City needs a robust funding stream that is consistent and will continue into the future no matter what the political or economic climate is at any given time. I believe that the only way for this to occur is for the citizens of Carson City, myself included, to come together and agree on a mechanism for us to properly fund the services, and to what level, we expect the City to provide.