ABSTRACT
Typically, public works is one of the largest municipal departments. Usually it is an amalgam of functions, often including engineering and a variety of services directed toward the repair and maintenance of municipal equipment, properties, and infrastructure. Among the repair and maintenance functions often found in public works departments are five that will be reviewed in this chapter—street cleaning, street lighting, building maintenance, graffiti removal, and custodial services. Other functions sometimes included in public works departments but treated in separate chapters of this volume are streets, storm drainage, solid waste collection and disposal, traffic engineering and control, public utilities, tree maintenance, parks maintenance, radio and telephone maintenance, and vehicle and equipment maintenance.
