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From YouTube: What's Up AVL! – Episode 07
Description
Ricardo Basurto, Communication Specialist with the City of Asheville, discusses National Public Works Week with Greg Shuler, Director of the Public Works Department, and Sofia Bonilla, Coordinator of Special Projects with Public Works.
A
Good
afternoon
ashfield,
this
is
what's
up
ashville
at
wres
radio
100.7.
If
fm
radio
show
discussing
projects
and
initiative
of
the
city
of
asheville,
this
is
your
host
ricardo,
asurto
communication
and
public
engagement
specialist
at
the
ceo
of
asheville.
Today,
we
are
accompanied
by
greg
schiller
director
of
the
public
works
department
at
the
city,
hi
greg
great
to
have
you
here,
hi
ricardo
pleasure,
to
be
here.
Yeah-
and
here
we
are
it's
like
our
new
journey
to
the
team-
is
sophia
also
for
the
public
departments.
Well
great
to
have
you
here,
sophia
yeah.
A
A
C
Greg
schuler
public
works
director
and
been
with
the
city
for
14
years,
been
the
director
for
about
nine
years.
I
believe,
okay
and
a
lot
of
what
I
do
is
give
overall
guidance
to
our
160
plus
staff
of
line
level
employees.
We
have
cover
a
lot
of
things,
I'm
happy
to
go
over
the
different
divisions
that
we
have
within
the
department
and
the
services
we
provide.
That's
great.
B
A
Well,
welcome
to
the
team.
Certainly
it
will
be
amazing
today.
I
think
we
would
like
to
talk
a
little
bit
about
something
specific,
which
is
the
national
public
works
week.
It's
gonna
be
a
national
celebration
from
may
15
to
may
21,
and
before
we
go
to
the
national
public
weeks,
I
think
we
have
to
go
like.
Let's
start
with
the
basics,
what
does
the
public
works
department
do
here
in
nicehala,
thanks
ricardo.
C
Excuse
me
so
public
works
here
in
the
city
does
a
lot,
probably
what
a
lot
of
people
think
we
do.
We
pick
up
trash
we
handle
recycling
and
brush.
We
also
take
care
of
our
roads,
bridges,
sidewalks
our
trees
and
cleanliness.
Cleanliness
is
a
big
thing
for
the
city
and
always
has
been,
but
it's
really
getting
a
lot
of
press
right
now,
but
we
also
take
care
of
our
storm
water
infrastructure
and
planning
plan
review.
We
do
a
lot
of
design
for
capital
projects.
C
We
also
take
care
of
all
of
the
fleet
for
the
city
that
includes
fire
trucks,
police,
cruisers,
trash
trucks,
lawn
mowers,
you
name
it
everything
that
really
runs
on
fuel
or
will
soon
be
running
on
solar
and
we
hope
to
get
more
into
the
ev
world,
absolutely
yeah.
So
that's
that's
an
exciting
part
of
what
we've
got
in
the
future.
We
also
have
a
lot
of
data
that
manages
how
we
do
the
work
that
we
do
and
measures
our
success
and
and
then,
as
sophia
said,
we
have
our
admin
division
who
provides
general
direction.
A
C
Really
is
a
big
department,
we
we,
we
do
a
lot
of
things
that
our
community
depends
on
and
really,
if
we're
doing
our
job
well,
most
folks
don't
recognize
it.
But
when
we
do
mess
up-
and
we
do-
we
there's
a
lot
of
opportunity
to
to
get
things
wrong,
but
most
most
of
the
time
we're
on
top
of
it
and
we
have
unbelievable
employees
who
do
the
hard
work
that
makes
a
city
run
every
day.
Absolutely.
A
I
something
that
I
have
heard
like
talking
with
colleagues
and
stuff
is
this
sort
of
like
internal
joke
that
you're?
Usually
your
job
usually
goes
like
on
scene
or
like
our
best
job,
is
boring.
These
girls,
underneath
so
do
what's.
What's
kind
of
this
means
like
many
of
the
jobs
that
we
do,
are
really
unseen
or
like
we
don't
pay
attention
to
them
or
like.
B
C
A
I
mean
I'm
thinking
just
like
this:
famous
roman
aquadogs
will
go
like
for
kilometers
and
kilometers,
going
straight
with
a
little
bit
of
slide
to
make
sure
like
here.
Well,
we
have
to
deal
with
the
same,
but
in
a
city
with
ghost
ups
and
downs
and
make
sure,
like
everyone
in
the
house
has
the
how's
the
water
functioning
right.
So
it
certainly
sounds
complex.
C
A
And
I'm
pretty
sure,
like
a
huge
challenge
to
some
degree,
it
will
be
like
how
to
deal
with
because
those
topics
require
well.
You
have
to
go
to
the
street
and
make
sure
like
the
street
still
have
circulation
like
cars
can
go
by
that
the
sidewalks
are
accessible,
so
people
can
still
walk
in
to
their
place
while
you're
doing
reparations
and
at
the
same
time
you
have
to
work
with
ncdot
or
energy
department,
like
it's
a
lot
of
going
on
to
to
do
something
as
simple
as
water
right.
C
C
Water
department,
if
you've,
got
anything
that
you
need
to
upgrade,
because
the
last
thing
we
want
to
do
is
pave
a
road
and
then
have
someone
come
in
there
for
a
planned
repair
for
gas
or
sewer.
We
want
to
communicate
with
those
folks
to
to
get
it
right,
the
first
time
and
minimize
cost
for
the
project,
but
yeah,
just
as
important
as
disruption
for
the
community.
A
I
would
imagine
that
there's
this
overlap,
then,
in
between,
like
the
the
master
plan
for
the
city,
which
is
more
long
term,
but
to
make
sure
like
that
master
plan
is
aligned
with
the
current
council
city
priorities
all
at
the
same
time
with
the
projects
from
the
state,
the
state
government
and
the
federal
government
as
well
right.
That's.
C
A
You
mentioned,
like
the
importance
of
budgets
on
it
like
reviewing
the
budget,
it's
clear
like
well.
This
department
is
one
of
the
just
behind,
like
foreign
police,
obviously,
and
in
terms
of
like
how
many
employees
are
working
within
the
department,
I
think
understand
is
the
fourth
largest
right
just
behind
the
water
as
well.
That's.
C
C
C
We
are
we're
having
a
hard
time
retaining
folks
and
recruiting
folks,
and
so
we
want
to
make
sure
that
we're
treating
our
employees
as
good
as
we
can,
and
it's
not
all
about
money
money-
is
important
but
being
flexible
as
far
as
schedules
when
we
can
and
providing
professional
development,
it
is
really
important
to
have
a
really
robust
and
and
knowledgeable
staff
to
do
what
we're
expected
to
do,
and
we
want
to
make
sure
that
our
taxpayers
feel
like
they're
getting
the
most
for
their
money.
Of
course,.
A
That's
something
that
I
have
we
were
talking
with
some
colleagues
and
where
we
find
out
like
many
of
the
asheville,
the
people
who
live
in
nashville.
They
know
the
person
who
goes
like
every
other
day
to
pick
up
the
trash.
They
know
the
people
who
are
like
in
charge
to
make
sure
like
the
trees
are.
You
know
not
like
super
huge
branches
stuff
like
that.
C
Yeah,
it's
easy
sometimes
to
get
lost
in
the
technical
aspect
of
your
job,
but
we
we
try
to
do
a
good
job
with
selecting
staff
and
then
training
the
staff
that
we
have
to
say.
This
is
our
community
and
our
our
our
residents.
Our
visitors
really
count
on
what
we
do.
They
don't
have
any
other
option
to
to
repair
their
sidewalk
or,
to
you
know,
make
sure
that
their
property's
not
flooding.
C
So
we
want
to
make
sure
that
service
is
there
and
and
and
really
at
the
highest
level,
that
that's
we,
whether
it's
the
craftsmanship
of
our
employees,
who
are
pouring
sidewalk
or
fixing
a
radiator
on
one
of
our
trash
trucks,
craftsmanships
and
product
craftsmanship
and
pride
in
our
work,
is
really
what
we
try
to
really
drill
in
with
our
employees.
That's.
A
Great-
and
I
will
just
like
take
that
mention
that
you're
saying
about
like
how
we
can
get
involved
and
if
there's
any
situation
that
is
happening.
Please
remember
that
you
can
report
an
issue
through
the
asheville
app
or
you
can
call
828
251
1122,
that's
a2a
251
1122,
so
you
can
report
like
any
issue
that
is
affecting
you,
your
household,
your
neighborhood
and
some
will
in
the
city
of
asheville.
Most
likely
your
department
will
be
there
to
try
to
fix
it
right.
That's.
C
Correct,
for
example,
our
sanitation
employees
are
on
every
single
street
that
we
have
in
our
network
of
over
400
miles
every
single
day
or
every
single
week
we're
on
every
one
of
those
roads.
So
we
have
a
lot
of
eyes
out
there.
We
have
a
lot
of
other
staff
who
are
out
performing
their
work,
whether
that's
trimming
a
tree
planting
a
tree
installing
pipe
or
replacing
an
ada
accessible
ramp
for
our
handicap,
visitors
and
and
residents
making.
A
Sure
we
are
inclusive
and
make
sure
we're
having
like
people
around
there's
a
lot
of
things
going
on
with
the
department
and
it's
clear
that
there's
a
lot
of
activities.
What
will
be
like
something
that
you
would
like
the
people
to
know
when
when
they
say
like
public
works?
What
would
you
like
the
people
to
know
about
it.
C
I
guess
the
first
thing
that
I
thank
you
for
asking
that
question.
That's
one
of
the
first
things
that
I
would
want
people
to
know
is
that
our
employees
really
care
about
what
we
do
and
the
people
that
we
serve
it's
for
the
vast
majority
of
our
employees.
This
is
their
career.
This
is
what
we
went
to
school,
for
this
is
what
we
have
trained
for
cool
and
it's.
A
Hear
you
I
I
was
running
like
years
ago.
I
get
the
chance
to
well.
I
was
with
voluntarily
by
my
mother
to
fix
my
mother's,
like
old
bathroom.
It
was
like
three
four
days
of
like
working
and
unclotting
and
cleaning
and
stuff
my
grandma
hated
like
every
single
day
that
I
was
like
they're
making
sure
like
it
was
like
proper,
but
in
the
end
she
was
like.
Okay,
that's
fine,
so
I
I
can
totally
understand
we.
C
C
It's
a
lot
of
times
specialized
equipment,
some
of
it
we're
dealing
with
contractors-
and
you
know,
inflation
is
about
eight
and
a
half
percent
right
now,
and
that
is
really
taking
a
toll
on
our
ability
to
purchase
the
materials
that
we
need.
The
equipment.
And,
quite
honestly,
you
know
we
labor
is
a
really
inexpensive
piece
of
everything
that
we
do,
whether
it's
done
in-house
or
external.
A
couple
of
other
things.
C
A
Great
to
know
absolutely
it's
putting
your
money
where
you're
putting
your
money
where
your
water
is
absolutely
that's,
that's
a
necessity
and
well
it's
it's
always
fascinating
to
hear
about,
like
our
colleagues
and
all
the
joke
that
they
do.
I
would
like
to
then
like
jump
after
this,
like
kind
of
short
dish
preamble
to
the
the
62
annual
national
public
works
week.
This
like
2022
week,
okay,
ready
and
resilient.
That's
that's
their
motto.
C
We
were
really
honored
that
the
mayor
and
council
members
saw
fit
to
take
the
time
and
and
really
acknowledge
the
the
really
hard-working
men
and
women
who
who
get
these
really
tough
jobs
done
every
day
and
every
night
we
we.
We
have
a
night
shift
that
works
every
night.
So
we
we
have
a
presence
in
the
city,
you
know
24
7.,
absolutely.
A
Because
when
we
have
talked
with
other
departments
like
fire
department,
for
instance,
there's
like
yeah
you,
you
always
will
see
fire
department.
When
you
go
like
on
the
street
or
there's
a
fire
there's
an
emergency,
you
will
see
them,
but
when
there's
a
lot
of
emergency
they
still
have
to
be
working
and
training
and
prepping
for
it.
So
I
assume
it's
the
same
here.
You
have
to
be
doing
like
the
every
day,
the
daily
job,
while
at
the
same
time,
be
ready.
C
That's
correct
and
to
your
point,
for
this
year's
theme
for
american
public
works
week,
ready
and
resilient.
That
is
that's
really
our
mantra.
We
we,
we
are
the
people,
along
with
the
some
of
our
other
departments,
to
be
there
when
there's
a
flood
where
there's
a
snow
event.
When
there's
you
know
any
sort
of
catastrophe,
our
staff
is,
they
are
ready
and
they
are
resilient.
We're
trained
to
do
this.
A
When
we
think
about
like
first
responders,
we
think
to
think,
like
you
know,
health,
police,
fire
and
there
are
deadly
heroes
in
their
own
right,
of
course,
but
it's
another
people
who
goes
and
make
sure
like
everything,
is
clean
and
try
to
help
and
try
to
address
these
structural
causes.
What
provokes
something
there
are
also
heroes,
and
many
of
those
are
people
in
within
the
public
works
department
for
sure.
That's.
C
It
is
a
really
tight
group
of
this
organization,
and
public
works
is
just
one
piece
of
the
puzzle,
but
when
it's
a
snow
event
when
it
is
a
even
a
downtown
festival,
we
public
works
is
involved
with
that
with
barricades
with
cleanup
and
with
the
planning
of
it.
Juneteenth
coming
up,
that's
going
to
be
a
big
one
for
us
and
we're
excited
to
be
a
part
of
that
yeah.
Of
course,.
A
Because
sometimes
we
say
like
oh
yeah,
the
celebration
it's
great
but
yeah
all
the
planet
like
what
are
we
gonna
do
with
traffic
we're
gonna,
make
sure
like
there's
no
accident,
because
there's
like
a
different
level
on
one
stair
or
something
so
there's
a
lot
of
like
things
going
on
like
we
as
we
were
saying
earlier.
We
sometimes
we
don't
see
it,
but
what
is
there
is
undoubtedly
valuable
and
really
important.
A
C
A
Oh
excellent,
so
I
think
like
something
that
the
pandemic
left
us
is
like.
You
know
this
sense
like
yeah,
it's
like
first
responders
and
well
people
who
has
been
linked.
Frontline,
like
the
nurses
of
course,
but
like
people
who
was
like
taking
meals
on
doordash
and
these
are
apps
well,
they
certainly
were
there
making
sure
that
people
could
do
it
so
at
the
same
time,
public
works.
They
deserve
that
the
recognition.
So
you
were
saying
that
we're
going
to
celebrate
like
this
week.
Can
you
mention
a
little
bit
like?
C
C
A
C
To
drive
an
excavator,
or
maybe
one
of
our
it's
a
knuckle
boom,
but
it's
one
of
the
larger
pieces
of
equipment
that
we
use
to
to
load
brush
when
it's
too
much
to
do
manually,
oh
cool,
so
yeah.
There's,
obviously
just
like
anything
that
we
do.
Safety
is
number
one
priority
and
we
will
have
trained
staff
there
to
to
assist.
C
C
A
The
thing
sometimes
we
try
to
overlook
or
don't
really
think
about,
like
what
it's
required
to
do
certain
jobs,
but
there's
a
lot
like
specialization
and
training
required
to
be
able
to
perform
some
of
these
tasks
so
yeah.
I'm
I
hear
you
as
well,
it's
like
I.
I
could
read
about
it
and
says
like
get
an
idea
of
it,
but
it's
like
I
have.
B
C
The
claw
on
the
side
and
their
employees,
who
are
doing
that
pick
up
about
1200
carts
per
day
and
some
of
the
places
they
have
to
go
to
with
on
street
parking
and
just
tight
roads
because
of
our
terrain
is
really
challenging
and
they
don't
have
a
choice
but
to
get
that
job
done
every
day,
because
if
your
trash
is
set
to
be
collected
on
thursday,
it
needs
to
be
picked
up
thursday.
And
when
we
have
a
lot
of
those
are
extremely
sophisticated
vehicles.
C
B
C
A
Because
people
will
plan
their
week
ahead
of
that
they
will
have
to
schedule
like
okay.
I
have
to
take
the
trash
this
day
because
they're
coming
next
day
as
a
certain,
as
I
am
like
many
other
things,
and
it's
important
to
have
that,
like
that
confidence,
that
the
things
are
going
to
be
done,
as
you
were
planning
that
so.
C
A
And
talking
about
the
community
well
in
in
my
department
at
least,
which
is
communications
and
public
engagement,
we
are
mostly
focused
on
like
how
we
communicate
how
we
engage,
but
from
the
in
in
the
in
the
public
world
department
how?
How
do
we
engage
with
the
community?
What's
our
what
are
ways
that
citizens
can
participate
in,
alongside
with
the
activities
or
projects
that
the
department
has.
C
Just
today,
sophia-
and
I
were
talking
with
one
of
our
staff,
members
of
division
manager
and
she
said:
hey
I'm
getting
ready,
I'm
getting
ready
to
go
into
a
school
and
talk
to
some
third
graders,
oh
cool.
So
that's
one
way
we
engage,
but
as
far
as
engagement
from
the
community
to
us,
avl
is
really
an
important
piece
of
that.
Our
asheville
app
is
a
great
way
for
people
to
communicate
with
us
on
our
capital
side,
where
we
build
a
large.
You
know
some
of
our
largest
construction
projects.
C
We
have
those
typically
have
their
own
web
page,
but
we
also
have
community
meetings
and
we
we
want
to
do
community
meetings
so
that
it
makes
sense
to
folks.
So
it's
not
just
convenient
for
us,
but
whether
that's
providing
day
care
translators,
doing
it
at
different
times
of
the
day
or,
as
we've
learned
a
lot
through
the
pandemic.
Virtually
exactly
so.
We
for
any
of
our
larger
projects,
we're
reaching
out
to
get
community
impact
and
not
only
to
inform
hey.
C
This
is
getting
ready
to
happen,
but
also
a
project
that
we
had
recently
on
martin
luther
king
boulevard
and
martin
luther
king
jrs
boulevard.
That
was
one
that
some
of
the
best
ideas
we
got
out
of
that
was
directly
from
community
meetings.
We
had
a
team
of
engineers
working
on
it,
but
we
missed
stuff
because
we
don't
live
there.
So.
A
And
well,
you
mentioned
that
you
have
in
the
city
for
a
few
years
now,
I'm
curious,
because
we
have
seen
how
the
app
is
fairly
new
that
has
been
developed.
We
have
improved
the
aba
alert
and
well
with
the
pandemic.
Certainly
we
have
to
go
virtual
and
have
public
input
and
we
haven't
gone
like
seen.
Many
changes
over
time
in
the
ways
we
engage
with
the
public.
Have
you
noticed
like
these
changes?
C
C
That
one
happens,
those
have
been
very,
very
helpful
and
it
allows
people
to
you
know
when
they're
walking
to
go
get
lunch
and
they
see
something
they
can
take
a
picture
of
it
and
send
it
to
the
right
person
yeah
right
away.
So
that's
hopefully
helpful
to
the
public,
and
it's
certainly
helpful
to
us
to
to
you
know
to
know
what's
going
on
out
there,
what
do
we
need
to
focus
some
resources
on.
A
That's
that's
great
yeah.
What
we
want
to
do
is
like
have
the
engagement
with
the
public.
Sometimes
you
can
say
like:
oh
I'm
complaining
on
facebook
or
twitter
and
that
might
be
cathartic
and
we
all
been
there.
We
all
do
that,
but
you
usually
like
the
ib,
the
ashwi
lab.
That's
certainly
a
more
direct
way
to
to
get
in
contact
with
us
right
register
for
the
activities
we
have
on
public
input,
because
we
are
informing
other
projects
and
meetings.
So
that's
that's!
That's
for
sure.
A
C
On
you
yeah
yeah,
we
we're
public
servants
and
we
don't
pretend
to
have
all
the
right
answers,
so
we
need
the
input
from
the
public.
So
we
know
what
success
looks
like
and
success
from
an
engineering
point
of
view
may
or
may
not
be.
What
a
community
leader
would
like
to
see
so
somewhere
in
the
middle
is
where
we
need
to
be
absolutely.
A
That's
that's
the
great
way
but
well.
Thank
you.
That's
a
strong,
powerful
words
and
well.
I
would
like
to
thank
you
both
greg
and
for
being
here.
We
certainly
have
addressed
a
lot
of
things
regarding
the
police
weeks
pulling
this
war
week
will
be
in
the
starting
may
15
and
well
that's
that's
our
time
for
today.