Public works director retires

#MiddleburyCT #PublicWorks #DanNorton #Retirement

Dan Norton stands in front of pictures of DPW workers and equipment. The pictures, taken over the years, hang in Public Works’ new meeting room at the transfer station. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Dan Norton, Middlebury’s director of public works from 2007 to 2025, spent 40 years of his life working in the town’s Public Works department. His last work day before retiring was Friday, March 21, 2025.

In a March 20 interview, he said he hoped both town officials and town residents were happy with the job he did. “I did my best,” he said.

He noted Public Works is like a silent service that just goes out and does the job without a lot of fanfare. “Unless we are working on your road or plowing it, you probably never think about us,” he said. Yet, if you can reach out and touch something on town property, Public Works likely had something to do with it.

Asked what accomplishment he was most proud of, Norton paused briefly before saying, “I am most proud of the crew we were able to build here.”

He said the Public Works department has gotten better and better over the past 40 years as the American Public Works Association worked to raise the bar for employment in public works. Norton said employees took on more and more responsibilities, and the level of professionalism increased.

Norton said of Middlebury’s Public Works employees, “They are the best of the best. They are the most talented and most dedicated crew I have ever worked with … These guys care about what they do. It’s no longer just a job for these guys. Their pride goes into what they do, and they put their heart and soul into it … They are so professional and so talented.”

Over the years, Norton said, he watched the department grow from a small-time highway department that mainly did road patching and chip sealing into a large department that takes on many tasks. It built and now maintains the town’s three parks, Meadowview, Ledgewood and Schoolhouse. It got more involved with building maintenance. It interacts with neighboring towns to share information. It is one of the town’s first responders in situations like a winter accident that requires sand and salt.

It also does drainage, paving and complete road building, work that used to be done by hired contractors. And the department has installed water and sewer lines on town property.

In 1988, the department began doing tree work, and last year alone, they took down 178 dangerous trees on town properties and rights of way. Norton noted he is the town’s tree warden.

In 1990, it acquired a tub grinder that converts branches to mulch that is free to Middlebury residents (and also is used as needed on town properties). It is available at the transfer station, as is a mix of sand and salt for residents who need it in the winter.

The town also began doing a lot of vehicle work in house to save the town money. One example is the chipper truck Public Works uses when doing tree work. They bought the cab and chassis of an old Eversource truck for $14,000 and converted it to a chipper truck from a bucket truck for another $24- to $25,000. Norton said a new chipper truck could easily cost $150,000.

Public Works also does all the oil changes and many of the mechanical repairs to all the town vehicles – police, fire (except the fire engines), fleet vehicles, and mini-buses.

Norton said the saying in public works circles is, “If you can’t shoot it and it’s not on fire, it’s public works’ responsibility.”

Recalling some of the worst storms the department had to deal with, he said the late October 29-30, 2011, snowstorm was one of the most challenging cleanups. “It left us with a ton of blocked roads,” he said. “There was something wrong everywhere you looked.”

Another year, freezing rain coated everything with ice. Roads were impassible, and residents began calling Public Works complaining they weren’t out salting the roads. The problem, Norton said, was the town trucks have to travel on state roads to access most town roads, and the state hadn’t salted their roads. Norton said the state trucks were either out trying to keep the highways salted or they were backed up in traffic on the smaller roads. The town ended up salting the state roads so it could then start on the town roads.

Norton said his first day at work was April 9, 1984, and his first job was as part of a crew cutting brush off the bank between town hall and Shepardson Community Center. “We used to spend winters hand cutting brush the sickle mower couldn’t get,” he said. He said he worked wherever he was needed in the department – as a utility person, a driver, a laborer, an operator and then grew into driving the department’s trucks and operating its heavy equipment. He said his father was a heavy equipment operator, so he learned some from him and more from Edward B. St. John who was both first selectman and the director of Public Works.

He said St. John advised him when he was hired, “Stay honest, keep your hand out of the (cookie) jar and we’ll have a long career.”

Asked what he was going to do in his retirement, Norton said he really didn’t know. “My first love has always been operating heavy equipment and driving trucks,” he said, noting that is what puts a smile on his face. He said it was likely he would end up doing one or both for part of the year.