Public Works Lakes
What We Do
The title of the Lakes Management Division of Public Works is deceiving. Their mission is actually twofold. This small group
of 3 permanent employees and varying numbers of temporary summer employees is responsible both for aquatic weed harvesting
on all of the County's lakes as well as performing construction work on many County projects.
This division is overseen by the Parks Department from mid-May to mid-August during which time their primary focus lies
in aquatic weed harvesting on the County's lakes. More information regarding that aspect of their mission can be found
on the Parks Department's Aquatic Weed Harvesting
web page. However, one interesting fact that you won't find there is that the equipment used by Dane County for harvesting
aquatic weeds was all designed, fabricated, and built by Lakes Management staff.
Lakes Management's second purpose is more obscure. Lakes Management also
facilitates the timely and cost-effective completion of special projects County-wide. Their primary responsibility in
this area is to assist the Public Works Engineering Division performing semi-skilled trades work on various construction
projects. Situations that arise in many of Engineering's projects, which could cost thousands of dollars in change
orders, add months to the project completion schedule, or simply never reach completion due to budgetary restraints,
are handled by Lakes Management for a fraction of the cost and time.
As you can now see, the Lakes Management Division is truly a hidden asset to Dane County not only keeping the beautiful
lakes beautiful, but also performing work and completing projects that would otherwise require contracting out at a
much higher cost.