Melrose DPW Day To Honor Late Local Foreman

The following is from the City of Melrose:

The 17th Annual DPW Day will be held on Thursday, May 16th (rain date Friday, May 17th) from 8:30 a.m. to 12p.m. at the Tremont Street Operations Facility, 72 Tremont Street. Students in grades K-2 of the Melrose Public Schools will attend the event as a field trip, and Melrose residents are also invited to bring their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, ages 8 and younger to join in the event any time after 9:30 am.

The City Yard will be closed to residents dropping off yard waste/recyclables that day. In addition, Tremont Street will be closed in front of the DPW building (but open to traffic visiting business between DPW and West Emerson Street).

The DPW is hard at work preparing this fun and educational “Truck Extravaganza” day for the children and residents of Melrose with the help of our major sponsor D&R Paving. There will be several educational booths presented by Stantec, National Grid, Bay State Textiles, BETA Group, MWRA, Melrose Recycling Committee, JRM and Mass in Motion – to name a few.

This year’s DPW Day is dedicated to John Doherty, Division Foreman of the Melrose DPW Parks and Forestry Divisions. John passed away in September from injuries sustained while doing the job he loved. A fourteen year veteran of the Department, John made significant contributions to the City of Melrose through his daily work. When you look around Melrose, at our beautiful parks and playing fields, the grounds of our schools and municipal buildings and tree canopy you are looking at John’s work and leadership. A steadfast employee, he was instrumental in helping Melrose look the way it does today – lining fields, cutting grass, pruning trees, maintaining flags city wide. A Melrose resident, John was dedicated, dependable and strongly committed to his job. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather and an all-around super guy. He is sorely missed by his colleagues and by the entire community. John was very passionate about the annual DPW Day – a day he truly enjoyed. It’s only fitting that this one is in his memory.

There will be plenty of trucks, bobcats, excavators and tractors to climb on – so please
join us and learn what your Public Works Department is all about.