AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following story begins a new series of articles that will be featured in The Outlook (print and online) from time to time, putting a spotlight on the people who work to keep things running as smooth as possible in the Town of Outlook. Our hope is that readers perhaps take away a renewed appreciation for the work that they do, and maybe even gain a deeper insight into what goes on behind the scenes in this community.
OUTLOOK - Staff who are working in the town of Outlook, and in this case, *for* the Town of Outlook, all have to start somewhere in their line of work.
For Luke Lockhart, who serves as the Town's Superintendent of Municipal Operations, that included starting from the ground up.
"I started out at the rink of all places, which was great," he said, sitting down with this reporter at the town offices building. "I worked there in the wintertimes and then downtown in the summertimes, picking up compost, doing potholes, and all that kind of stuff. That was a while back, and from there I got transferred full-time to the public works department, and from there, I took over the water treatment and wastewater division when Calvin retired."
When describing what a day in his line of work might entail, Lockhart pointed out that there really is no such thing as a typical day as the very nature of the job can differ not only day to day, but perhaps even by the hour.
"I wouldn't say that there are 'typical' days, but there are very cyclical days, if that makes sense," he said. "Different seasons bring different things at different times of the year. Generally, what I would do on a day-to-day basis: we all show up, and if there are any extraordinary tasks that have come up through previous days or weeks that we have to do, we'll get those assigned and guys rolling on them. I don't have paperwork, although I'm supposed to do a lot of paperwork! Part of my job is to supervise the employees, and I wouldn't call myself a 'helicopter' type of personality when it comes to that. I trust the guys because the guys are great, and I think we all can agree on that. I do keep in touch with them regularly, and having other staff keep tabs has taken some of the pressure off and eliminates having to be in 100 spots at once. I don't micro-manage, and there's no place for that, especially in a municipality."
Perhaps the biggest challenge in what Luke does is working to make sure residents are pleased with the results, although he points out that in a town the size of Outlook, trying to make everyone happy can prove to be a very difficult task. Still, it's a job that pushes Lockhart and town workers to try and get positive outcomes.
"Keeping everybody happy," he said, when asked what challenges he faces. "There are a lot of people in this town, a lot of diversity and a lot of different age groups. We all drive on the same streets and we all drink the same water, but certain demographics need a higher level of service, whether it's snow removal and there's a six-inch ridge at the end of Grandma's driveway. Well, that's different than a 12-inch ridge at the end of some strapping young teenager's driveway, right? That's the challenge; trying to provide the best service available but on a different level, without making it seem like it's a different level. We can't pick favorites, we can't do favoritism, and we can't do personal favors, but you try and please everybody. You're never going to please all of them, but you certainly try."
As a people person, Luke considers the everyday interactions he has with Outlook residents to be one of the benefits of the job. He also enjoys coming together with different departments to accomplish intended goals, which he says is a good way to get things done.
"I really love the public; I love the people," said Luke. "That's not just the residents or the business owners in town, but I'm talking the staff. We've become a lot tighter as a whole within the Town of Outlook between the administration, the recreation, public works; we've all adapted to more of a single unit as opposed to a 'your department versus mine' mentality. That's great because we've got a lot more accomplished. A lot of times, we all had the same goal in mind, but the communication wasn't there to say, 'We all knew this could be better, but that's THEIR department, not MY department'. Now that we meet regularly, we've hashed out a lot of things that were easy to discuss."
Of course, in his line of work, there can be a lot of things that the general public perhaps may be blind to, and people gaining a better understanding of the work being done by people such as Luke and town workers would provide a glimpse of the proverbial other side of the fence.
"Oh, for sure," Luke said with a laugh, asked if there are things people don't see and perhaps don't fully understand. "There's a lot to running a community. A lot of infrastructure that people don't see, a lot of planning that people don't see, the development and so forth. It's not under the table or anything like that, as we're working very hard to be transparent, but there are certain things that not everybody needs to know. As far as parts of the job that people may be blind to, I mean, some people don't even know the specifics that come with a fire hydrant. They see it on the side of the road and think, 'That's where water comes out', but they don't know that it's 8-10 feet deep that ties on to a pipe, so when we have a leaky hydrant, there's a bit more of a process to fixing the problem. Processes in the water plant are pretty in-depth, too. Planning and development are big things that people don't see. We have a ten-year capital plan and we're trying to expand it to a 25-year capital plan, and that doesn't mean that everything on that strict timeline is going to get done, but it's something to look forward to and something that if we do get a changeover in council and staff in any department, that plan will still be there. The behind the lines stuff, there are thought processes that are discussed. There has to be a plan and there has to be continuity in that plan to carry on, not for Luke and not for Maureen and not for whoever, but for the Town to carry on."
With the longevity that Luke has, and with the people who came before him and taught him all that he knows, serving in his current role isn't exactly something that's been eye-opening for him, although he says it's a job in which you don't stop learning.
"I've been here for so long," he laughed. "You always learn new things and you always see new things, but I don't think I'd say that it's been eye-opening. We had a very good base of employees that I came up through, such as Rick Pederson, Calvin Clark, and Gig (Hugh) Lemon, they were all great mentors and father figures to me. I had four dads when I was starting out here, which was pretty sweet! I give a lot of credit to them for providing the insight on the future, so I wouldn't say that I've had anything that's been too eye-opening. But it is a job where you learn every day. It's a big community; you go into one house to change a meter and then you go into the next house and it's something completely different."
In Luke's mind, the level of care that people take to make sure their homes and properties look great and the way the town looks in full bloom really make the community stand out in a lot of ways. It's the little things that he says people may end up noticing, something he learned a long time ago.
"It's beautiful," he said. "The amount of care that most people put into their own yards and even around town is great. I don't want to badmouth any other towns, but sometimes you'll go into another community and you'll see litter on the streets and signposts that are out of whack. That's one thing that Rick Pederson taught me, if you don't have straight signposts, people notice. That was something that I never noticed before. Now, I'm not saying all our signposts are straight either, but it's a small detail that you don't notice UNTIL you notice it. Just one of those little things that stuck with me from Rick. If you care about the little stuff, you can get away with some of the bigger stuff, haha."
Lockhart is grateful to be serving the town and its residents, and says it's always great to have open communication with those who call Outlook home.
"Thank you for having me," he said, when asked if there was anything he'd like to say to town citizens. "I really do feel that I want to be here for each and every citizen, business owner, and those driving through town. We are open for communication if there are concerns, if you think we're doing something wrong, and even if you think we're doing something right! We really like to get compliments too. They don't come too often, but when they do, they sure are nice."
