It's National Public Works Week!

This week, we’re celebrating our incredible Bethel Park Public Works Team led by Director Susie Dolinar who’s been with the Municipality for over 40 years!

Susie and her team of 23 dedicated staff work tirelessly each day to ensure that all municipally owned buildings, grounds and infrastructure are maintained throughout the year. This team is on call 24/7 for emergencies such as snow and other severe weather-related incidents and hazardous conditions as well.

This past winter, our dedicated team conducted 26 road-clearing operations—more than double the number over the past two years—ensuring that our residents could travel safely despite severe weather conditions. Our crew effectively managed 15 snow routes, covering approximately 138 miles of municipal and state roads, and utilized over 4,000 tons of salt.

Public works also maintains all municipal fields, park buildings, park playgrounds, tennis courts, volleyball, basketball, and pickleball courts as well as five parklets. Along with that, Susie and her team maintain operations at the Municipal Building, Community Center, and three community fire stations.

You’ll also find Public Works employees repairing potholes and making other minor road repairs, inspecting and replacing roadway and street identification signs as needed; repairing and maintaining over 6,800 storm basins located along Bethel Park roadways as well as 6,000 sanitary manholes; and inspecting and maintaining 206 miles of sanitary sewer main lines.

This amazing team also excels in community outreach holding the wildly successful “Touch-A-Truck” event each year as well as coordinating an annual Halloween Parade.

TOUCH-A-TRUCK

This year’s Touch-A-Truck was held on Sunday, May 18, and had over 2,500 people in attendance!

When speaking of the event, Bethel Park Municipal Manager Kristen Denne said, “Having worked in Municipal government for 25 years, I can honestly say that this is the best Touch-A-Truck event there is anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania!”

Susie started the program back in 2018.

"Over the years, my team and I saw how excited children were when they saw our trucks; we also knew that they loved seeing police cars and fire trucks too. So, we decided to create an event where we could bring all types of trucks together for kids to see firsthand including Public Works, Police, Fire and many, many other vehicles including a variety of vintage cars," said Dolinar.

From that initial idea, the event grew to also include a 22-ton sand pile filled with over 500 gifts and lots of other exciting attractions.

"We try to keep on top of the best attractions and bring them to our Touch-A-Truck event each year," said Dolinar. "Our newest one this year was a mega truck! We were very excited to have it at our program and the kids loved seeing it!"

Guests also enjoyed horseback rides, seeing a mini horse, fainting goats, meeting the Washington Wild Thing, and having surprise visits from the “Grinch” and “Sully” from Monsters Inc. Free T-shirts were given to the first 250 children as well as free refreshments for attendees.

"We're grateful for our sponsors, the Bethel Park Community Foundation and Parking Lot Paving Company for providing the funds for the shirts," said Dolinar. “And we’d like to thank everyone who took the time to stop by and enjoy the day with us!”

Our Bethel Park Public Works team embodies this year’s National Public Works Week theme—"People, Purpose, Presence"—with unwavering dedication. They work tirelessly, often behind the scenes, ensuring that our community thrives. Their presence may often go unnoticed, but their impact is felt in every service provided and every improvement made to enhance the quality of life in Bethel Park. We’re grateful for their commitment and proud to celebrate their invaluable contributions this week and every week!

#TeamBP #BethelPark #PublicWorks #NationalPublicWorksWeek