Farmington Feed: New Employee Speed Round Spring 2025
This is the Farmington Feed, bringing you information from the city of Farmington.
Caryn:Hi, and welcome back to the Farmington Feed. I'm Caryn Hojnicki, the city's communications specialist, and I'm hungry for another episode of the feed. We have two special guests with us today, and we're introducing some of our Farmington faces in our new employee speed round. Welcome, Torri Wolf and Eric Whitmer.
Torri:Thank you.
Eric:And thanks, thanks for having us.
Caryn:Yeah. Torri's our senior administrative support technician, and Eric's the superintendent, and they are both in the public works department. So my first question will be to both of you. How'd you become interested in your current position? Eric first.
Eric:I've just been in public works for quite some time, and I've just advanced kept advancing. So I guess that's it just happened.
Caryn:Yeah, it just happened. I like it. You just love it. What about you, Torri?
Torri:For me, was in a different position at the city and the director of public works, John, approached me to apply for this position. After looking at what the responsibilities were, I was very interested in it.
Caryn:Yeah, so tell our listeners a little bit how you got started at the city since this is new.
Torri:I originally started at the front desk in finance, so I was processing utility bills and kind of doing some odds and ends in the finance department.
Caryn:And then of course talking to people that come in.
Torri:Talking to people, our wonderful residents here at Farmington. And then it just happened that there was an opening in public works and like I said, John asked me to apply, and so I did
Caryn:you got a new desk.
Torri:I do have a new desk. Not in the public eye, yes.
Caryn:Long have you been working in public works total,
Eric:Eric? Since 2011.
Caryn:Okay.
Eric:Yep, So fourteen years. Math.
Caryn:Yeah. I can't do the math
Eric:that quick.
Caryn:I should. My son was born in 2011. So and Tori's new to her position, but most people are looking at public works and thinking about street sweeping, snow plowing, but they do so much more. So what other things does your crew do for the community?
Eric:Oh, I would think that some of the most important stuff is, you know, pump and distribute some days millions of gallons of drinking water. That's important. Also, the sanitary sewer seems to get overlooked quite a bit unless it's not functioning properly, then it's upfront. But I would say the water and sewers out of it are very important. The sweeping is as well, and the maintaining of the roads, blacktoping, things like That's the stuff that people see the most, but the behind the scenes would be the water and sewer, which is argue, more important.
Caryn:Yeah. So water and sewer, I know that includes the hydrant flushing, which we just recently completed, right?
Eric:Yep.
Caryn:Twice a year, correct? And how many hydrants do we have that we
Eric:have Oh, you're putting on a spot here. It's around 1,500.
Caryn:Something like that, yeah.
Caryn:That's a lot.
Eric:I mean, it takes, what, nine days to complete it. And we still have one more day coming up, Yeah,
Eric:in school, we have a zone that's by the high school. We wait till school's out and there's no more school days off this year until the release, so it'll be after that.
Caryn:Okay, I think that's what, June 9 or something like that?
Torri:June 9, think it's scheduled for.
Caryn:Yeah. Yeah. This week is public works week and it runs May 18 through the twenty fourth. And on the website, this year's theme is people, purpose and presence, highlights the cornerstone ideals that motivate public works professionals to serve in their communities every day. So meeting the needs of the people and then it gives the public works a sense of purpose.
Caryn:We're connecting all these themes here. And then many times public works professionals will never meet those people whose lives they've impacted when things are going right. But like you said, when it's going wrong, they for sure do. So working in this background to advance the quality of life for all, how do you relate to this?
Eric:Oh man, that's a
Caryn:It's like in-depth.
Eric:Yeah, it's in-depth. I guess it's a very small crew that takes care of a lot of stuff with the public works, so a wide range of things.
Caryn:They're doing something different every day.
Eric:Every day. And this didn't happen here, this happened at my old job, but we had a water main break, and the resident kept it very close. He was a retired gentleman, kept a very close eye on us throughout the process, and he was surprised that it was the same faces that repaired the water main, blacktop the road, fixed the curb, and fixed the storm sewer.
Caryn:Like, they did the whole job.
Eric:Yeah.
Eric:It'd just be it's different days, obviously. But, yeah, he was like, you guys again? Like, yeah, we we are the only guys that We are the guys. Yeah. So I guess that just is things like that, that it's a small crew of great people that take care of the day to day business of a city.
Caryn:And they're working hard and they're working at odd hours. Yeah. I mean, if a water main breaks, they're being called.
Eric:I have a phone on me at all times, and we always have a staff member with a phone on them at all times available twenty four seven, basically.
Caryn:For sure.
Eric:Like, the snow is not scheduled, but at least the snow, you kind of have an idea per forecast if the forecasts are correct. They're correct.
Caryn:That's true.
Eric:But it's the unforeseen events, like, power outages, things like that, or, you treat storm events Yeah. Or water main breaks, but there's always somebody available.
Caryn:Yeah. We had the big snowstorm two years ago when I first started, and then there was also downed lines and everything. We had lost power before the breakfast with the bunnies, and those guys are responding out there helping clean up all that mess, right? Yeah. Can you tell me a little bit, what is the favorite part of your job?
Eric:Oh, when things go well. Mean, we do have a lot of positive resident feedback, which is awesome to hear because you really don't get a lot of that. I shouldn't say we have a lot. When we do get it, we really appreciate it because we don't get a lot of it. So, that's always a great thing.
Eric:It's great to have a positive impact on somebody's life. That's awesome. Especially in a job like ours, it's kind of a, I don't want say mundane, but a lot of it's day to day basic maintenance outside of storm events or unforeseen events.
Caryn:Like mowing the lawn and stuff like that, So
Eric:it's nice to get the positive feedback, that's awesome.
Caryn:Yeah, and we like to hear it, right? Of course. Torri, and you get to hear that. I do. Because you answer the phone.
Torri:Not as much. Not as much. Not as much.
Caryn:But you were. You've heard a lot of the residents compliments but also some complaints. You're there just to help them out. It's not your fault that whatever happened to them and you just want to get an answer for them or get them forwarded to the right person. So what would you say is your favorite part of the job?
Torri:Right now, the team that I work with. So that makes a huge difference I think. I'm getting to know more of it, but it's also just helping our residents out
Caryn:when we That's what you're doing. So what information do you guys think is the most important for residents to understand or know about what you do on a daily basis?
Torri:It's never the same.
Caryn:It's never the same
Torri:It's never the same.
Eric:Yeah, even though it's routine what we do, really is never the same. Each day brings a different challenges, and we just go about it and tackle them as we can.
Caryn:Yeah. Figure it out. So what's something you do in your job that most people wouldn't know you do? I
Eric:I don't know. I guess I I don't know what people wouldn't think we do. The fact that we do take care of all the different duties in public works, the water, sewer, storm water, I don't know if people know that we have such a wide range of things we take care of
Caryn:beyond- Also
Torri:ponds, Ponds, So our arborist and McKenna and our natural resources for water, she does a huge thing, too.
Eric:Yeah, people might not understand the wide range of it that we do.
Caryn:Yeah, for sure, because it just gets done and they don't
Caryn:think about it. We just had that pond and park cleanup. McKenna was out there handing out gear and stuff to those. And we had a big number of people that actually turned out on that Yes. It was great.
Caryn:All right, so this is my favorite question I like to ask is,
Caryn:what's the funniest thing that's ever happened while you're working in your field or in a past job?
Eric:I would say at a past job, just some of the day to day hijinks, I guess you call it, the crew, like putting chalk in their gloves or things like that. That was always kind of fun and harmless for the most part. Just things like that. Somebody's out plowing and they have a rough outing where they do take down a couple of mailboxes and maybe just put in a mailbox by their chair in the morning meeting as a reminder. Yeah.
Eric:Things like that. Those have always been fun over time.
Caryn:Uh-huh.
Eric:Some of the sanitary sewer maintenance, when sometimes you get sprayer, things like that, on you or a coworker
Caryn:Oh.
Eric:All you can really do is laugh it off.
Caryn:Yeah.
Eric:Things like that over time Yeah.
Eric:Have been pretty funny. One more another funny story I just thought of is that it was about four to or five weeks ago, a resident's cat here in Farmington got in a storm went down a storm drain and down a storm
Caryn:Oh, poor thing.
Eric:Yeah. And it would not come out. Was a little skittish.
Eric:And she called us. We were able to remove a a manhole lid, a stormwater manhole lid, and we coned it off and everything for safety purposes, but pretty much just kinda left the area for a while then just to calm the cat down. Yeah. And she was able to get the cat out of the sewer. It's just another funny event, and you you never know what gonna come when you answer the phone, what's on the other end of what issue that is. That's one of them that we were able to help out, and she dropped cookies off at the shop this week, which was very well received. So nice. Yeah. For sure. How many cookies do you think?
Eric:If I had to guess I would say 100. It was a heavy box.
Caryn:Well, thank you for that story. I love it.
Eric:For sure.
Caryn:Let's flip over to a little something serious. Can you guys tell me who's inspired you most in your career? Ever?
Torri:In general? Yeah. Probably my family. It's for my kids, you know? You want the best and you wanna show them how hard you work. Nothing comes easy.
Caryn:Yeah, I love it.
Eric:That's a fact. My kids, I didn't know it until, obviously, I had kids, but when you come home and they ask what you did that day and you realize that, Oh, maybe this is more than just a job at some point in time.
Caryn:Or when they emulate what you do at home when they're little.
Caryn:Yep. I mean, my kids are in that range right now. Like, my daughters are playing, oh, I'm on social media. My littlest daughter, she's like, I gotta post to social media.
Eric:And she has this, like, fake phone thing, and she's pretending. And I'm like, woah. That's not really how it works. But okay.
Torri:Yeah. It looks good.
Caryn:And then she pretends to take a selfie. Like, I don't know. Have your kids ever played at work at home, like, what you do?
Eric:Yeah. Yeah. They my oldest always wanted to be a city worker like dad. He doesn't really know the specifics that I do, but I was a city worker. And so it was inspiring, I guess.
Torri:Yeah. Sometimes I think they don't know everything that you do either. So when you come home with a story and they're like, You do that? It's like, Yeah, I do.
Caryn:Yeah, I do that. Really? Wow. It's like it's like the light bulb goes off in their head, right, like, thinking about it.
Caryn:Well, if there's anything else you guys wanna mention about Public Works and Public Works Week.
Eric:Just it's a pleasure to serve the people of Farmington, thanks for having us in this.
Torri:Absolutely.
Caryn:We're gonna thank your whole department for being there and the residents really do appreciate you guys.
Eric:No, think it's good to hear. Thank you.
Torri:Yeah, thanks.
Caryn:So thank you, Tori and Eric, for giving us a preview of what happens behind the scenes in public works. Always check out our website at FarmingtonMN.gov for more information on what their department does. And if you have a question, just call City Hall at 651- 280-6800. Before I wrap up today's episode, I wanna share a few things.
Caryn:Check your deck, May is deck safety month. As families all over the world are spending more time together, they'll be getting outdoors and making use of their space. And with more than 60,000,000 ducks in The US, it's estimated that 30,000,000 are past their use of life, and they need to be replaced or repaired. So get them checked. And as I said before, public works week is this week, and think of public works worker if you see them.
Caryn:State of the city is Friday, May 23 in Council Chambers starting at 9AM. Please register to attend with Dakota County Regional Chamber. And our first music in the park is scheduled for Wednesday, May 28, starting at 7PM in Rambling River Park. This month's event will feature 5 Day Forecast, a classic rock cover band. This event is free and open to the public.
Caryn:Thanks to our sponsors, Castle Rock Bank, Farmington Youth Hockey Association, Hobo, Nesbit Agency, Sierra Juhl State Farm, and VFW Post 7662 Well, that concludes this episode of the Farmington Feed. Thank you for listening. We look forward to connecting with residents with this podcast. If you have any feedback, guest requests, or ideas, email me at Communications@FarmingtonMN.gov.
Caryn:Don't forget to subscribe to the Farmington Feed wherever you like to get your podcasts.
