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Overview

​Scope and Content

This report provides an introduction to the Street and Sanitation Services Department of the City of Dallas. The first part of this report is a synopsis of the departmental structures and a general explanation of the functions belonging to each structural entity.   The report also provides a well balanced representation of the issues which influenced the department's current composition and service levels.  The second component of this report is a comprehensive analysis of issues and goals crucial to the department's abilities to provide basic public services during the next three to five years.

The report includes a history of the department up to 1989:

In July of 1972, the Public Works Department was divided into three new departments: Public Works, Building Services, and Street and Sanitation Services. Establishment of the Street and Sanitation Services Department was in response to a need to more logically group together existing services.   

The newly created Street and Sanitation Services was assigned the responsibilities of collecting and disposing of municipal solid waste, and maintaining and cleaning of drainage facilities, streets, and rights-of-way.  The Department was to intensify the City's efforts to control litter and weeds, and remove junk motor vehicles.  The department also was responsible for "all other" duties as may be required by the City Manager.  Management's confidence in the department's abilities may account for the parade of services that have traveled beneath this department's umbrella during the last 18 years.

Initially, the new department was divided into two operational units: Sanitation Operations and Street Operations. Before the department was a year old, two additions were made to the family.  The Flood Control Section of Public Works (originally the Dallas County Flood Control District) was absorbed into Street Operations, and the Litter Control Division was established to enforce ordinances controlling weeds, litter, and junk motor vehicles.  In 1975, Traffic Operations became another division of the department, but remained only until 1982 when it became the core component of the current Department of Transportation.  Also in 1982, Litter Control was transferred to the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Services.  As Litter Control departed, the Office of Emergency Preparedness joined Street and Sanitation Services.

The entry of Emergency Preparedness into the department created a unique triad of emergency services which was seldom, if ever, found in other major municipal organizations .  Emergency Preparedness designed, maintained, and activated preparatory response plans for both natural and man-made disasters.  Street Operations responded to these emergency situations by providing perimeter identification, damage control, and clearing of public rights -of-way.  The third component of the triad was the Sanitation Operations Division, which handled the aftermath of crisis situations by collecting and disposing of related debris . These divisions, specializing in the before, during, and after emergency responses, created a highly efficient working relationship under the umbrella of a single department.

More recently, four distinct organizational changes occurred .  In 1988, a portion of Housing and Neighborhood Services, Code Enforcement Section, was transferred to Street and Sanitation Services.  During the same year, Action Center and the Centrex telephone operators, both formerly a part of Information Services, were reassigned to the department's Emergency Preparedness Division.  In January of 1989, Street Operations consolidated its Street Maintenance and Street Services sections and downsized the organization by realigning its forces into City Wide and District Operations units.  As of October 1, 1989, the Administrative branch of the department reorganized and expanded its responsibilities by centralizing all budgetary, purchasing, revenue collection and accounting, inventory control, personnel management, and marketing functions for the department.

Since its inception in 1972, the Department of Street and Sanitation Services has not been an organization content to remain static in the midst of a continually changing environment.  More than any other single department, Street and Sanitation Services is responsible for providing the most diverse array of public services.  Virtually all of its services contriiute either directly or indirectly to the public's health or safety.  From the collection and disposal of garbage, brush, and trash to the repair, maintenance, and cleaning of street and storm drainage infrastructures and public rights-of-way to the enforcement of City Ordinances and to the public assistance provided during both natural and man-made disasters, the department unfailingly provides often unrecognized, but a consistently superior level of public service.  We shall continue to allow nothing less.

Organization

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Access

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives.  All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.  The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Citation

Street and Sanitation Services, 1989 (Box 1, Folder 1), Dallas Municipal Archives

Related Materials

None

Index Terms

Dallas -- Texas -- History
Dallas (Tex.). Department of Street and Sanitation Services

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