Operations and Maintenance

Equipment Maintenance Division

The Equipment Rental Fund is an internal service fund created to provide for the repair, maintenance, and replacement of City-owned vehicles and equipment. The Finance Department provides administrative support while the Public Works Department provides maintenance, management, and repair services. The Equipment Rental Division is responsible for the repair and maintenance of 225 vehicles and other pieces of equipment in addition to the operation of the fueling facility. General purpose work is performed in-house by three full-time equipment mechanics. Specialized work is contracted to local automotive repair shops.

Parks and Facilities Maintenance

The Public Works Parks and Facilities Maintenance Division maintains the grounds of all City-owned and operated buildings, water and wastewater facilities, parks, roundabouts, and planter strips. This includes over 530 acres of park land, grounds adjacent to occupied buildings, 74 water and wastewater sites, and 15 miles of right-of-way with over 2,500 street trees.

The work performed by the division includes routine and preventative maintenance, as well as repairs and special projects. Staff performs site repair, turf and grounds preservation, urban forest management, support of Parks and Recreation programs, limited construction, and coordination for volunteer and youth work groups. Work is prioritized to address safety and high community-use areas.

The division is responsible for the maintenance of over 125,000 square feet of occupied buildings, including City Hall, Lacey Timberland Library, Lacey Museum, Maintenance Service Center, Jacob Smith House, Community Center, Senior Center, and over 74 water and wastewater facilities. Support is also provided to the Water and Wastewater Divisions on an as-needed basis.

Stormwater Utility Division

The Stormwater Utility Division operates and maintains all municipal storm drainage systems. The utility is also responsible for developing plans, programs, and constructing treatment facilities as necessary to comply with federal, state, and city non-point source surface water requirements.

Significant resources are devoted to public education, responding to citizen inquiries, identifying water quality/quantity concerns, and developing solutions. An emphasis is placed on:

• Identifying requirements for facilities to remediate known water quality and flooding concerns.
• Cleaning and maintaining catch basins, storm ponds, swales and other treatment devices.
• Developing water quality monitoring and maintenance plans for both public and private facilities to ensure resources devoted to maintenance.
• Maximizing pollutant removal efficiency of the storm water system through an aggressive street sweeping program.

Streets Maintenance Division

The Public Works Street Division is responsible for evaluating, maintaining, and repairing all roadways, traffic signs, markings, signals, drainage systems, sidewalks, and roadsides as well as roadway lighting. The Division is also responsible for street cleaning, snow and ice removal, and removing road debris from traffic lanes. Additionally, the Street Division performs special projects such as the Christmas tree pickup, hanging the College Street banners, and supporting special events such as Fun Fair and car shows. The division also manages the Adopt-a-Roadway Program.

Wastewater Utility Division

Lacey’s Wastewater Utility Division consists of a collection system of sewer pipelines, sewage pump stations, STEP systems, and community on-site septic systems. These facilities serve to collect, initiate treatment, and transport wastewater to the regional LOTT Treatment Facility. Lacey’s Wastewater Utility is responsible for operation and maintenance of approximately 189 miles of wastewater lines, 44 lift stations, and nearly 2,857 residential and community STEP systems.

Utility operations are funded through wastewater service fees. These revenues cover current operating expenses, maintenance of the system, replacement, and emergency repairs. Revenues required to finance needed capital improvements comes from the general facility charge (GFC) that all new connections must pay.

Water Utility Division

The Water Utility Division provides high quality drinking water in sufficient quantity and pressure to support the citizens of Lacey and residents of the entire water service area. Virtually all of Lacey’s water comes from groundwater wells owned and operated by the Utility. Water rates cover current operating expenses, maintenance of the system, replacement of worn and failing waterlines, emergency repairs, and debt service. In addition to water rates, new connections to the water system are charged a one-time fee to cover costs of infrastructure requirements necessary to ensure continued quality service to serve the connection. Such infrastructure includes City owned production wells, over 300 miles of distribution lines, numerous pressure control devices, and seven storage reservoirs.

Public Works programs include distribution line maintenance and repair, water quality and regulatory compliance, resource management, conservation, wellhead protection, water production and storage operations, and system engineering. Financial services include meter reading, accounting, billing, and collection. The Operations Division is responsible for operating the system, repairs and preventive maintenance. Planning, capital improvements, regulatory compliance, community education/outreach, design and capital programming, development review, and source development are provided by the Water Resources and Engineering Divisions.