Department of Public Works

As a member of the Department of Public Works, you are charged with maintaining your community’s water, sewer, and street and traffic systems, and with protecting the public’s safety.

Following are some ways that you can help to make your community safer and save municipal funds.

Hazard Identification and Mapping

• Interpreting Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and Flood Insurance Studies
• Understanding the limitations of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) and Flood Insurance Studies
• Making hazard information available and accessible
• Sharing emergency information

Planning

• Creating risk mitigation strategies
• Creating a multi-objective management plan

Regulation and Development Standards

• Keeping public infrastructure outside of hazard-prone areas

Mitigation and Shore Protection

• Using non-structural shore protection
• Using flood and erosion control structures
• Retrofitting existing structures
• Relocating existing structures
• Using freeboard to elevate structures above predicted floodwaters

Infrastructure

• Protecting critical access routes
• Keeping roads and utilities out of damage-prone areas
• Maintaining an inventory of hazard risks for all public property
• Improving construction and design of critical facilities
• Siting critical facilities out of harm's way

Emergency Services

• Creating a disaster response plan
• Improving disaster response coordination
• Creating a post-disaster recovery plan
• Assessing damage to buildings

Education and Outreach

• General hazard awareness
• Hazard training for town officials