Vanessa Burns Returns With A Clean-Up Message

As one of the few women in the U.S. leading a public works department — she ran New Haven’s in the 1990s, then ascended to bigger cities’ departments — Vanessa Burns doesn’t have the time or temperament to sugarcoat words.

“We need to get people do their damn jobs,” she said.

Burns returned home for a visit with that message and other suggestions for department heads developing a strategy for a cleaner Elm City.

Chief Administrative Officer Michael Carter said the city is looking to get a handle on a persistent problem of litter and illegal dumping in the city. He is looking the replicate the work done by a task force he convened to improve snow removal this past year.

Carter worked for Burns in Washington D.C. Burns in turn recommended Carter for the New Haven CAO job when her friend, Toni Harp, began her term as mayor in 2014. Carter brought Burns back to City Hall this past Friday to meet with him and some department heads to share what she’s learned about keeping cities clean.

“You pick up garbage the same way in Louisville as you pick up garbage in New Haven and Washington, D.C.,” said Burns, who is now head of public works for Louisville. ​“People think it’s different in every city, but it’s not.”

Burns, who began her New Haven tenure under then Mayor John Daniels, was credited with improving garbage pick-up and bluntly confronting workers whom she believed gave less than full commitment to their jobs.

But she said what people can learn from are the ideas that other cities have developed about working across departments, using technology to build efficiency and educating the community.

“When I came here, I believed that every part of the city should receive the same level of services,” she said. ​“I did the same thing in Washington, D.C. and now in Louisville. There is often the perception that the services are not the same. You have to establish your level of services and then make sure across the city that they are at the same level whether you are in Westville or Newhallville.”

Her first tip was for the city: Assess its level of cleanliness using inspectors from not only the Livable City Initiative, but also public works, parks and the health department. Burns said department heads would have to break out of their silos to clean up the city. She suggested that these inspectors be on the look out for vacant lots, rundown property, and violations of laws and ordinances, and to have that information shared across departments.

“You cannot make changes unless you know the level of cleanliness in the city,” she said. ​“Divvy up the damn city.”

Her second tip? Make use of technology. Whether it be iPads for inspectors, or an app on their cell phone that allows them to file reports from the field, she said equipping the workforce responsible for the cleanliness of the city is key. It allows people to address an issue immediately.

“Often times we ride by a problem area so much that we don’t even notice it because we think, ​‘Oh, that’s not in my jurisdiction,’” she said. ​“Bullshit. If you ride by something that is not in your jurisdiction, you need to raise your hand and say something. We need to do this as one New Haven.”

The concept of breaking out of silos hit home for Honda Smith (at left in above photo), who handles public-space cleanliness for the city’s Department of Public Works, and Christy Hass (at center), deputy director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees. Smith wants to do cleanliness education in schools and provide packets of information to students. Rangers from the parks department already provide education in schools. Why not work together?

“We do live in our silos,” Hass said. ​“We don’t share.”

“Nobody has enough resources,” Burns said. ​“But the bottom line is that we can work together.”

Not only did Burns suggest that departments share information and resources. She suggested they get a better handle on whether their employees know their jobs and are doing them efficiently. She said if the department heads are honest, they’d acknowledge that while people are on the clock for eight hours, they often don’t actually work eight hours.

She said she has developed standing operating procedures for her department and its positions. Every position has a ​“letter of expectation” so that people know what their responsibilities are from the director’s position down.

“We want people to know that this is no game,” she said. ​“We expect you to know what your job is.”

CAO Carter said that the city will be moving forward with developing a new strategy for keeping the city clean that will include not only department level plans, but also ways to engage the community and leverage existing relationships and technology like SeeClickFix.

“But first,” he said, ​“we have to deal with the snow.”