Sean C. Morgan
Donnie Melson, 65, is retiring from Sweet Home Public Works after 36 years of service in maintenance.
His last day will be Friday, March 16, when the city will host a retirement party for him from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Public Works.
Melson has lived most of his life in Sweet Home. He went to first and second grade here, and then his parents divorced. He moved to California and then moved back and forth until about 40 years ago.
“I met my wife in Lebanon,” Melson said. “We’ve been here 40 years.”
His wife, Glenda, owns Cut Loose beauty shop.
“I worked in quite a few mills,” Melson said. “I did some logging.”
During a period in which he was unemployed, the employment office in Lebanon sent Melson to Sweet Home through one of its programs.
“I started out on that,” Melson said. “I think it lasted around six months, and then they hired me on permanent. That’s how I got started here.”
Melson started out as a Maintenance Worker I and worked his way to Maintenance Worker III and crew leader.
He has worked on the street crew for the most part and has been the lead worker for the past 25 years.
His crew has been responsible for ditching, signs, prep for overlays, crack sealing, painting and striping. They’ve also helped with beautification projects by picking up debris, diverting traffic, installing lights, changing bulbs and hanging wreaths and baskets.
During that time, his crew has had to deal with about 70 gravel streets, most of which the city received from the county when the east end was annexed. Nandina Street was gravel between Ninth and 12th avenues. The city used to have to grade the streets.
Finally, the crew put an oil mat on those streets, Melson said, which was supposed to last for 20 years. Some of those streets are still in good shape. About 10 have been overlaid with asphalt, but he said most of them are falling apart.
The water system is in much better shape than when Melson started, he said.
“We had an average of probably three water leaks a day for the first 10 years,” Melson said. “Water leaks were just a daily occurrence.”
The mains were upgraded to 4 inches and improved, he said, and water leaks are rare events now.
Melson has watched the growth of several subdivisions.
There was one house in the Ashbrook Addition when he came to Sweet Home, he said. Ashbrook is located around 29th Avenue.
Sherwood Gardens, located off 40th Avenue north of Cedar Shack, finally got rolling after Melson went to work for the city. Forty-Ninth Avenue wasn’t developed at all.
The late Senior Engineering Technician Paul Burningham was the first to buy houses in Sherwood and the 49th Avenue development, Melson said.
The city’s water system is in much better shape now, Melson said. The sewers are getting there. The storm drainage system is improving.
The city’s streets are the worst problem the city has now, he said. If the city could ever get all the necessary work done under the streets, it could start fixing its street problems, but that costs a lot of money.
Melson’s retirement caps off his career exactly as he intended.
“It was just my goal to retire at 65,” Melson said. “I’m getting arthritis pretty bad. It’s making it tougher.”
He isn’t planning on traveling just yet but he’s got hobbies.
“I love old cars,” Melson said. He can often be spotted driving around in his purple 1958 Chevy Apache pickup, a vehicle he has had for 25 years. He said he has a lot of things he wants to do with it. He also wants to get into buying, selling and swapping parts as a hobby.
He also plans to help some of his friends out with their restoration projects, he said.
Melson also plans to spend more time with his nine grandchildren. His children include Crystal, Amber and Dale.
“My wife wants to work for a few more years,” he said. “And then we’ll probably start doing some more traveling.”
Melson said he’ll miss the people he works with.
“They’re a great bunch of guys to work,” Melson said. He credited Maintenance Supt. Pat Wood for making a positive difference in Public Works in the past few years.
“We’re all pretty proud of Pat,” Melson said. “He’s a super good superintendent.”
And he gave a nod to the maintenance secretary, Lee Ann John, who takes care of the crew.
“It’s a good place to work,” Melson said. “Everybody gets along. It’s a good job. It was always dependable. You were never laid off. I was able to buy my home and raise my three kids.”