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Public works director leaves mark in short time

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Photo by Bill Olmsted

During his tenure as Janesville's director of public works, Jack Messer has overseen a great variety of change and challenges. One of the more controversial ones involved his introduction of roundabouts to the city. In the nearly 15 months of it's existence, the Morse street intersection hasn't even had a fender-bender according to Messer.

JANESVILLE — Record snowfalls.

A record-breaking flood.

Roundabouts.

In a short time, Janesville Public Works Director Jack Messer presided over a remarkable number of firsts.

Messer said people have joked about the natural disasters that have fallen on the city since he reported to work in May 2005. They say good riddance.

"I think they're just kidding," he said with a smile.

Messer, who has held jobs in both the private and public sector, is returning to Kansas because of family responsibilities. He will work for a consulting firm that provides services to cities.

Friday was his last day on the job in Janesville.

Messer was attracted to Janesville because the city does it all: water and wastewater, the landfill and garbage pickup, engineering and snow removal. The public works director provides direction to those department managers.

In the winter of his first year here, Messer faced a bottleneck at the Pine Tree Plaza, where streets had not kept up with development. The shopping center had only one access.

"Cars were stacked everywhere," Messer recalled.

A second access—Deerfield Drive—was under construction. Even though it wasn't done, Messer opened Deerfield to relieve congestion.

The city learned from that planning mistake, Messer said.

With the Menards development, streets providing multiple routes of access were built first.

Messer also introduced Janesville to roundabouts. His technical training is as a traffic engineer, and safety issues are close to his heart.

Intersections with stop-and-go lights are the most dangerous points in the transportation network, Messer said. Roundabouts slow traffic and have few points of conflict.

Retrofitting existing areas with roundabouts has proved controversial elsewhere. So Messer, with council approval, put one in the new Menards development. Residents are getting used to the experience. The next roundabout will be a retrofit on East Milwaukee Street at the site of a traffic death.

Of his time here, Messer said he is proudest of the city's response to the flood of 2008.

Messer had been through a flood in 1993 when he worked in Manhattan, Kan., and he said he brought with him what he learned then.

"I'll never forget the day—on June 12—when I figured out we were going to have floodwaters where we'd never seen them before and didn't necessarily know what was going to happen," Messer said.

Messer had learned the city needed to become a source of information. Former City Manager Steve Sheiffer took that one step further with daily press briefings.

Messer spent hours traveling up and down the river watching where flooding might occur that wasn't indicated on flood maps.

"We saw water on Main Street that no map predicted," Messer said.

Messer called in experts when he suspected a dangerous boil, created by water pressure, at the Centerway Dam.

"We were on top of that," he said. "We were paying attention."

Staff meticulously recorded flood data.

"Whoever follows behind me is going to be able to pull out a document and see what happened in 2008, where the water was and the impacts," Messer said.

"We were ahead of everything that came up. Our response was one of the most satisfying things in my career.

"I believe that we did as well as anybody could have expected."

Messer said he hopes he leaves behind a philosophy of challenging the status quo.

He encourages staff to try new things, and he said residents and policy makers should allow staff to experiment.

"When you make a mistake, it's only a mistake if you repeat it," he said.

Messer milestones

During the time Jack Messer was Janesville public works director, the city:

-- Plowed more than 100 inches of snow in 2008. "When you have snow like that, it challenges your way of thinking," Messer said.

He and John Whitcomb, operations director, did "five or six things we've never done before," such as canceling trash pickup, plowing slush before forecast snow and cold to avoid rutted streets, and mixing ice-melting material with sand when the city ran low on salt.

-- Inspected 35 miles of sidewalk for a sidewalk repair program. The city experienced some "hiccups" with some billing errors, but Messer still termed the repairs a "phenomenal" feat in its scope.

"We had complaints about trip hazards that dated back for seven years," Messer said. "For whatever reason, we didn't deal with them. It just came to a point where I believed that wasn't right."

-- Remodeled the fourth-floor break room in City Hall, which generated some controversy with its $30,000 cost.

-- Remodeled the front of City Hall to fix the retaining walls. In the process, Messer reoriented the approach so residents now reach City Hall from the front rather than the sides.

-- Remodeled the third floor of City Hall for better cooperation between the engineering and planning departments. When Messer first arrived, remodeling plans already had been drawn. But he removed walls so that department heads now work together and the departments share secretaries—reducing the number on the floor from five to three—and equipment.

-- Worked with developers to create two major subdivisions, Arbor Ridge and Ridges of Rock County. With money from the Hendricks Development Group, the city solved access problems to Arbor Ridge and minimized a dangerous curve. And even though activity in the Ridges is stalled because of the uncertain economic future, the city insisted the company pay for improvements up front.

"Those lots are out there, the infrastructure is paid for," Messer said. "Something will happen (there)."

-- Convinced ANR Pipeline Co. to work with the city for a preferred route for its pipeline through Briar Crest Park.

-- Worked with residents and AT&T to place its Project Lightspeed boxes without the controversy experienced in other communities.

-- Repaired the library roof.

-- Negotiated with Wisconsin Hockey Partners to remodel the ice rink if a hockey team comes here.

-- Began work on the Youth Baseball Complex.

-- Created a sidewalk plan that, when implemented, will fill gaps.

-- Built a new water tower and pumping stations.

-- Planned a $32 million upgrade of the wastewater plant.

-- Reconstructed East Court Street, East Rotamer Drive and Centerway.

-- Converted Jackson and Franklin streets from one-way to two-way traffic.

-- Negotiated with Dean officials about the construction of a new hospital in Janesville.