After 36 years, the engineer at the Bedford Department of Public Works is reflecting on a career that helped transform the local landscape and enhance the town’s quality of life.
“I’ve never had a dull day here,” said Adrienne St. John, whose last day at work is next Friday, June 4. “There is always a new project or a new issue or a new problem that the DPW is called upon to solve.”
She has had a hand—mostly both hands—in projects that covered the range of municipal services. At one point, she said, it seemed like “we had a third of the town dug up for numerous projects.”
After more than three-and-a-half decades, St. John said she derives her greatest satisfaction from two major ventures completed within the past three years: the reclamation of Fawn Lake and the White Cedar Swamp boardwalk along Davis Road.
The Fawn Lake dredging was “two decades in the making to get something able to be permitted through the regulatory agencies,” she pointed out. And the boardwalk is “just one little segment in the sidewalk network, but it links so many residents to the center of town.”
St. John, who is from Concord, received her bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Clarkson College in northern New York, where she played NCAA hockey. She later earned a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.
She was hired by former DPW Director Robert Cassidy in 1985 after a brief stint with the state Highway Department. “I was pretty familiar with Bedford,” she said; she even used to frequent the former Carrol’s fast-food restaurant, now the former Papa Gino’s.
“When I started I was the engineering assistant — but there was nobody ahead of me,” she laughed. After Cassidy retired, former superintendent Ken Pedersen stepped in, and then Rich Warrington took over as director. These were some of the people who “really initiated me into public works, how it melded together with public projects, how to address issues. They were very supportive.”
St. John learned right away about the department’s values. “That bar was set long ago that Public Works is approachable and willing to take an idea that came from a resident and run with it. Everybody knew each other and you wanted to help, you wanted to solve that problem as fast as you could with the resources that you had.” She also cited working with longtime Town Manager Richard Reed, who “gave 120 percent to the town.”
The engineer pointed out how dramatically technology has changed the nature of her job. Thirty-six years ago, the staff would “draw plans using little ink templates.” That evolved to computer-aided design, and “now a lot of the plans we submit our through our GIS.”
St. John said she and her colleagues Kristin Dowdy, the environmental engineer, Chris Nelson, GIS specialist, and William Magee, engineering assistant, “can walk in and in a moment put a plan together. Bedford has the strongest GIS system in any community. Chris has been instrumental in finding new ways to use it.” GIS has been “extremely helpful in keeping us on track with Kristin’s work on stormwater management.”
She noted other areas improved by technological change, like energy-efficient street lamps and recycling and reclamation in road work. And then there’s a more old-school specialty: snow removal, for which the Bedford DPW is legendary. “That bar was set so high before I got here,” St. John said. “I often joke that I don’t have anything to do with snow removal because my feet can’t reach the pedals.”
“The staff at the DPW—I don’t think there’s anything that they can’t build or fix or figure out how to make work better,” she asserted. “They are extremely talented, always looking at ways to solve problems. It takes that effort to make Bedford better.”
“When I started, we had begun rehabbing town buildings—in 1988 Town Hall was repurposed and then the police station moved.” She was involved with school building projects as well. The DPW in 1985 was situated where it is now—at 314 The Great Road. But it was a converted auto dealership. The current building wasn’t completed until 2004.
“I think Bedford should be proud of the projects that we have tackled over the years,” St. John declared. “That includes little things, a lot of amenities that all ages can take advantage of.”
A decisive decision in the annals of Bedford infrastructure was the decision in 2001 to adopt the state Community Preservation Act—the first municipality to do so. Under the law, the town collects a small surcharge in real estate taxes, which can be used for projects in three categories: recreation and open space, affordable housing, and historic preservation.
The state adds to the town’s CPA account—for many years that match was 100 percent. “The town was able to take on a lot of projects that most couldn’t even have imagined,” ranging from sidewalks and building conversions to synthetic turf and the boardwalk.
St. John said she doesn’t have specific retirement plans—her former colleague Jim Cozzi “has a paintbrush with my name on it,” she chuckled. She noted that her mother recently retired from TJ Maxx after working there for 40 years.
Town officials were replete with praise for the retiring engineer. “There is probably not a project in town that Adrienne hasn’t shaped in some important way,” said Select Board Chair Margot Fleischman. “She is a vast repository of facts about the town, the back story and history of everything that the DPW has done for decades. She can explain engineering issues in ways laypeople can understand and helps everyone come up with good solutions.”
Fleischman added, “Beyond her vast experience and professionalism, Adrienne is calm, kind, and thoughtful, and as a dedicated public servant, has always put the needs of Bedford first. we all wish her many happy adventures and time to relax and enjoy life. She has earned it!”
Town Manager Sarah Stanton, citing St. John’s “legendary tenure,” agreed that “her expertise, institutional knowledge, wisdom, and collaborative style has made her an absolute pleasure to work with for three years. She has been a mentor and teacher to so many, and is truly a model public servant.”
Stanton noted that “In the early days of my tenure, Adrienne was incredibly helpful and patient with me as I got up to speed. She will be so missed, but I’m happy for her that she will be able to start a new chapter.”
Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763
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