This is the 64th annual National Public Works Week.

At Monday’s Knoxville City Council meeting, Mayor Brian Hatch read a proclamation which laid out the importance of public works departments in local communities. The proclamation stated that public works professionals focus on infrastructure, facilities, and services that are of vital importance to sustainable and resilient communities and to the public health, high quality of life, and well-being of the people of Knoxville. 

Knoxville Mayor Brian Hatch says the City’s Public Works Department is seeing a lot of progress, and they do a great job.

“They do a great job. All of our departments do a great job.It’s just nice to see so much progress happening from a maintenance standpoint. Whether it’s at water reclamation, the street department or whatever that is, it just seems like we’ve done such a great job the last few years of trying to be proactive in some issues and catching them when we can.”

Hatch says infrastructure, facilities, and services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of public works professionals, who are engineers, managers, and employees at all levels of government and the private sector, who are responsible for rebuilding, improving, and protecting our nation’s transportation, water supply, water treatment, and solid waste systems, public buildings, and other structures and facilities essential for citizens.