Tyler Howe is a month and a half into his new role as Director of Public Works in Hancock, and loving it.
Howe worked just “on the other side of the sandberm” for the Department of Transportation in Hancock for 11 and a half years, spent a year working for the DOT out of Greenfield, and then took a year with a local construction company to “get more experience in other kinds of dirt work” before assuming his new role on June 26.
Howe grew up in Peterborough and lives in Bennington with his wife and two dogs, “about five minutes away from the shop.”
He said he’s always been interested in road work, but was ready for a change.
“I’ve always been striving to learn something new,” he said, and likes the diversity of responsibilities in his new role. “Being a director, you get into the highway, parks and rec, the water.”
On any given day, Howe could be cleaning culverts, grading roads, or attending to a pipe failure. He said he likes the “Go, go, go” of the pace, particularly now in the middle of summer.
“It’s the week before Old Home Days, there are only two of us this week so we’re running around like crazy,” he said. “I only have two guys, they’re an amazing crew, the hardest workers I’ve ever met.” Howe described the atmosphere in his department as a “real team feel. The crew is top-notch here.”
He said his crew just finished attending to the town’s culverts, and are moving onto the gravel roads that are due for maintenance, and setting up the shop in advance for their winter responsibilities.