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Public works director outlines staffing changes, workflow overhaul and projects for 2025
Summary
Lucas Pickler, New Berlin’s director of public works, introduced new leadership, described efforts to document procedures and adopt Cartograph for service requests, and previewed 2025 projects including a fuel-station rebuild and library chiller design.
Lucas Pickler, the city’s director of public works, told the Committee of the Whole on Dec. 10 that the department reorganized its management team after the death of longtime staff member Ed Bart and has brought in new leaders to strengthen operations.
"I'm Lucas Pickler, director of public works," Pickler said, introducing deputy director Mike Ader, street supervisor Jason Bednarz, parks supervisor Josh Fabian and facilities supervisor Bob. He credited the new team with stepping into a department that had limited management coverage and said their commitment to the city is evident: "what makes these folks great is, they truly care about the city."
The director said the department is working to reduce redundant paperwork and standardize on-the-job training. Pickler described a planned shift to an online resident request system that will link into Cartograph to generate tasks, assign crews, mark completions and notify residents. He said the change is intended to cut repeated manual entries and lost work orders that currently circulate as notes or paper forms.
Pickler also reviewed 2024 work and projects slated for 2025. Completed or near-complete items he highlighted include city hall window and access-control upgrades, an Ed Bart memorial with concrete and lighting work, and Oklahoma Avenue concrete invert replacement. For 2025 he listed projects contingent on CIP approval: library chiller replacement (design approved), fire training tower rehabilitation (design contracted), the Fire Station 4 generator (to be bid in January) and a fuel station reconstruction that appeared on the night’s agenda.
Council members praised the streets and parks crews for snow removal, golf course maintenance and tree work, and asked technical questions about ash-tree management and training. Staff said the ash-dieback peak has passed locally but that crews are moving toward more proactive condemnation and removal of hazardous, long-neglected private trees.
Pickler framed the department’s priorities as documenting routine procedures, creating standard training pathways and improving task-tracking to deliver more reliable service to residents.
The Committee heard the report without taking separate action; several CIP-dependent projects were discussed later during the CIP vote.
