Onusseit to Retire as DPW Superintendent

After 15 years of service in Wilmington, Department of Public Works Superintendent Donald Onusseit will retire on Nov. 15, 2013. 

At Monday's Selectmen meeting, Town Manager Jeff Hull announced Onusseit's retirement, as well as his replacement, current Water and Sewers Superintendent Michael Wood. 

Hull praised Onusseit for his many achievements as DPW Superintendent, including the improvements he made to the recycling and trash collecting programs.

Since 2006, by growing the town's recycling program, Onusseit oversaw a 20 percent reduction in trash collected.

Hull said promoting someone who already works for the town and has management experience was the ideal way to fill the vacancy left by Onusseit. 

"It is my belief that when circumstances permit promotion from within, it is the best approach," Hull said. "The town is fortunate to have a solid group of managers within the public works ranks."

Woods has worked for the town for 24 years in various roles, including Assistant Town Engineer, Assistant Water and Sewer Superintendent and Water and Sewer Superintendent.

Hull said the promotion of Woods to DPW Superintendent will also allow the town to merge the Water and Sewer Division with the Department of Public Works. 

"Full integration of water and sewer into the other DPW operations will create opportunities for greater efficiencies in the use of resources," Hull said. 

Selectmen also voted 5-0 in favor of approving an earth removal permit for Wilmington High School. 

Manafort Brothers Inc. was hired by Gilbane Building Company to remove the earth from the site of Wilmington High School. 

Project Manager Joseph Czapiga said Manafort Brothers has removed 7,000 cubic yards of dirt from the site, all of which has remained on site or at other town-owned sites around Wilmington. 

"We try to keep as much material within town as possible, but we will have to export some of it from the town as export sites become available," Czapiga said. 

According to Czapiga, up to 15,000 cubic yards more of material could be taken from the site, in which case export sites outside of Wilmington would have to be used. 

"Because we have so much excess earth we've had a hard time finding acceptable locations to store it in town," Czapiga said. "Anticipating we'll run out of sites within town we'll have to export it, and we'd like to have the permit for when we need to export."

Quick Hits From the July 15 Selectmen Meeting

• Town Manager Jeff Hull informed the Board that the 2013 Wilmington Relay For Life has raised more than $100,000 for the American Cancer Society. 
• Selectman Michael Champoux said he felt the Fun on the Fourth celebrations he attended with his family were well received and well attended. "Fourth of July to me was a remarkable success," Champoux said. "The events I participated in with my family and that took place were well attended." 
• Library Director Christina Stewart checked in with Selectmen on the library's summer reading programs. According to Stewart, 727 children have enrolled in the library's summer reading programs this year, an increase of 147 from last summer. A total of 1585 books have been taken out for summer reading so far, with a goal set for 3,000 by summer's end. You can still enroll for summer reading here.
• Selectmen voted 5-0 in favor of approving the Town Counsel contract for FY14. The new contract will raise the retainer fee from $21,250 to $22,316, a 5 percent increase.