Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Works topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Public Works seeks project managers, simulator and SCADA upgrades to speed county maintenance
Summary
Public Works requested two new staff, training simulators and telemetry upgrades, and said capital project carryovers explain apparent year-over-year budget differences.
Santa Fe County’s Public Works Department told commissioners on Oct. 11 that apparent cuts in its FY26 operating budget are driven mainly by capital-project timing and carryover, and that staff requested two targeted positions plus fixed assets to improve project delivery and workforce training.
Director Brian Snyder said the department reduced operating lines about $3 million to better match historical spending but separately requested two new full-time positions: a maintenance-focused project manager and an accountant to handle the department’s high transaction volume. Snyder said the project manager will oversee routine maintenance projects and coordinate facilities work for the fire department so firefighters can focus on operations.
Snyder also described a proposed equipment purchase and training initiative: a virtual heavy-equipment simulator to train operators before field work, which he said would help replace an aging, retirement-eligible cohort of crew leaders. “We want to grow our own,” Snyder said, noting many foremen will be eligible for retirement in the next three to five years.
Other requests included SCADA/telemetry upgrades for water and wastewater sites, fixed-asset purchases for heavy equipment, and a review of fuel- and fleet-management options. Snyder said the department handles more than 800 purchase orders and several hundred invoices per month and currently lacks an in-house accountant; the requested accountant would improve internal financial controls and reporting.
Manager Schafer and multiple commissioners highlighted improvements in internal project management and said recent work to centralize on-call engineering procurements has sped contract awards. Commissioners also pressed for a clearer public-facing project dashboard; Manager Schafer and staff pointed to existing story-map tools and said they will make project status maps and CIP updates more accessible.
Why this matters: The county’s ability to maintain roads, facilities and water infrastructure depends on addressing skills gaps, replacing aging equipment and improving data flows between operations and finance. Staff said the investment in training, telemetry and project management is intended to produce faster project delivery at lower long-term cost.
