Foley’s Public Works Department and other city divisions are now operating from a new campus designed to support the community’s continued growth and strengthen emergency response capabilities for decades to come.
City officials celebrated the opening of the new Public Works Campus on Monday, July 27, at the intersection of North Poplar Street and East Section Avenue.
Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the five-building, 14-acre campus replaces facilities were no longer adequate for the needs of a growing city.
“When the previous public works facility opened in 1991, Foley had about 7,300 residents,” Hellmich said. “Today, we have more than 30,000 residents. Our Public Works staff has grown from 25 employees to more than 100, and our municipal fleet has expanded from 142 vehicles to 520.”
The new campus is expected to provide adequate space for the city’s public works operations for the next 30 to 40 years.
As Foley has grown, so have the responsibilities of Public Works crews. In addition to maintaining expanded street and drainage systems, the department now cares for more than 40 miles of sidewalks. Dedicated drainage, tree-trimming and road construction crews have also been added in recent years to meet increasing service demands.
“We’re still growing,” Hellmich said. “Public Works now maintains more than 40 miles of sidewalks, expanded streets and drainage systems. We’ve added dedicated drainage crews, tree-trimming crews and road-building crews because that’s what our growing city requires.”
The new campus was also designed with disaster response in mind. Every building is constructed to withstand winds of up to 160 miles per hour, allowing employees to remain safely sheltered during severe weather and return to work quickly once conditions improve.
The facility is equipped with two natural gas generators to provide uninterrupted operations during power outages. Fuel storage capacity has also been significantly increased.
“These buildings were built with a higher wind capacity, giving our employees a safe place during storms so they can get back out and begin cleanup as soon as possible,” Hellmich said. “We’ve also expanded our fuel capacity from about one week to three or four weeks, making our operations much more resilient.”
The campus houses the Public Works, Sanitation, Street and Engineering departments, bringing key city services together in one location.
A major feature of the $17 million complex is a 16,000-square-foot fleet maintenance garage that services vehicles used throughout the city, including Public Works equipment, police and fire vehicles, and cars and trucks assigned to other municipal departments.
From the new campus, sanitation crews collect residential garbage from approximately 23,000 homes each week using five collection trucks operating on four-day routes. The city also continues to expand its recycling program, with about 40 percent of Foley households participating in curbside recycling.
The new Public Works Campus provides the space, equipment and infrastructure needed to support reliable city services while preparing Foley for continued growth and future emergency response.