News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Cookeville Public Works Department had a new position focusing on the city’s street signs.
Public Works Director Blake Mayo said the department hired Kirk Frisco once the new budget made the position available. Mayo said Frisco will be tasked with building and maintaining all of Cookeville and Putnam County’s street signs.
“We also do all the graphics on all of the city vehicles including the police cruisers,” Mayo said. “We actually do those graphics. They also do paint marking, like, they’ll freshen up stop bars and also any kind of city parking lots and things like that, we do the striping.”
Mayo said the position already existed in the structure of the department, they just needed the city to add the salary to the budget. Mayo said when the city agreed to add the position, they received heavy interest both internally and externally.
Mayo said both employees currently working in the sign shop have been around for over 20 years. Mayo said if one of them retires, the department needs someone with months of training.
“They need to get a background of how all of this works,” Mayo said. “It’s not somebody that you can just put in there and bring in off the street. We needed somebody with some background and some experience before those guys do decide to retire.”
Mayo said Frisco is an experienced welder. This is a valuable skill for the position because he will also do metal fabrication on traffic lights for the department.
“We definitely had some interest here inside of public works, and some folks that were… The guy that we gave it to, that got the job, was quite gung-ho, did quite a bit of research on what the job entailed, and is excited,” Mayo said.
Mayo said Frisco’s experience has freed him up to do some welding for the sanitation department and lend a hand to construction crews since he was hired.
Mayo also said that as Cookeville and Putnam County continue to grow, the demands of the position become greater. Each new subdivision requires a handful of new signs that have to be maintained.
Mayo said that when someone retires from the sign shop, the department may continue with two if they can handle the workload. Mayo said he is glad to have some peace of mind knowing that the department can make a smooth transition with its existing sign shop workers liable to retire any day now.
“I’ve checked up on him asking Mike, his supervisor, how he’s doing, and they’ve been really pleased with how he’s coming along. He’s doing a great job for us,” Mayo said.
