Dominic Valloni is the new maintenance superintendent with the Sweet Home Public Works Department.
He had been working since February in an acting capacity until the position was restored permanently in the 2018-19 budget.
Valloni succeeds Pat Wood, who died in December 2015. The city reorganized the department and eliminated the position afterward and then restored it.
Valloni has worked in the Public Works maintenance division since December 2000. After six years, he transferred to the engineering division as an engineering technician. He transferred back to maintenance about a year before Wood died.
Along the way, he said, he believes he has had more “temporary” titles than anyone else in the city.
Valloni grew up in Willits, Calif., a small logging town in the redwoods of Northern California. He graduated from high school in 1990 and moved to Lebanon, where he had family, in 1991. He attended Linn-Benton Community College and then started working.
Primarily, he worked for R.J. Armstrong, where he earned experience in pipework, asphalt and concrete.
Valloni said he applied for a job with the city and took a pay cut mainly for the benefits.
He has lived in Sweet Home for about 20 years. He is married to Dawn Valloni, who grew up in Sweet Home and owns and operates the Creative Cubs Preschool. She had worked at Little Promises while it was still at the Sweet Home Evangelical Church. They have three children, adults Brad and Austin and 14-year-old Casey.
Valloni said he has enjoyed living in Sweet Home.
“The people, the culture, it’s just a good fit for me and my family. I feel it’s a great place to raise kids.”
He has stayed busy in local sports, coaching more than 20 seasons of baseball and a few years of basketball at the sixth-grade level on up to helping with high school programs. Currently, he is coaching seventh- and eighth-grade fall baseball for the Boys and Girls Club.
“I love the sport,” Valloni said. He enjoys helping out and watching the kids develop. “Doing it long enough, you realize the impact you have (on kids). You’re not there for the sports, really.”
Sometimes, a coach is a mentor or even a father figure in some cases, Valloni said. That’s the rewarding side of coaching.
As superintendent, he directly supervises five maintenance crews, including water distribution, wastewater collections, storm water management, streets and parks.
“We’ve got a really good crew,” Valloni said. “Everything that gets done is because of them. I’m more here just to help people organize their day-to-day jobs.”