Tipton Thrives
Tipton Thrives delivers essential updates and comprehensive coverage of municipal developments, policy decisions, and civic initiatives that shape our growing city. Our podcast features in-depth conversations with distinguished community leaders, municipal officials, and local changemakers who contribute to Tipton's continued progress and development. Through carefully curated episodes, we provide residents with authoritative insights into community developments, municipal planning, and strategic initiatives that define our city's trajectory.
Tipton Thrives
Conversation with Tipton Municipal Services Superintendent
Join Mayor Kegan Schmicker as he sits down with Dylan Dietrick, Superintendent of Municipal Services, to discuss the city's ongoing infrastructure projects and seasonal preparations.
In this episode, we cover:
Pool Season Prep - Behind-the-scenes work getting Tipton's community pool ready for summer, including pressure washing, pump maintenance, and facility preparations
Yard Waste Management - How the city handles weekly yard waste collection and efforts to improve efficiency with proper containerization
Large Item Pickup - Details on the city's $35 flat-rate service for furniture, appliances, and bulk items
West Street Reconstruction - Progress update on this major infrastructure project, including new water mains, service lines, and upcoming roadway reconstruction with improved drainage
East Street Project - Preview of the next phase of sewer separation and road improvements planned for late summer/early fall
Dylan brings nearly a decade of experience from INDOT to his new role, having worked on projects including the Highway 31 railroad overpass. As a Tipton native, he's committed to improving the city's infrastructure while managing the department's diverse responsibilities.
Whether you're a longtime resident or new to Tipton, this episode provides valuable insights into the city's infrastructure investments and how municipal services keep our community running smoothly.
Hello, I'm Mayor Kegan Schmicker here with our next episode of the Tipton Thrives podcast. And today I'm joined by Dylan Dietrich, superintendent of our municipal services department. Dylan, you joined us in November of 2024, new to this role. So I think first, let's talk a little bit about you. What is your background most recently before joining the city of Tipton?
Speaker 00:Yeah, so before coming here, I worked for eight and a half, nine years with the Indiana Department of Transportation, Greenfield District. Yeah. I was a project supervisor, just managing multiple projects. Most recent was the railroad bridge on 31 over the railroad tracks.
Speaker 01:Ah, yeah, so the actual overpass over the railroad, that was a project that you were leading or part of that
Speaker 00:project? I was assistant manager on that project. Very good.
Speaker 01:So then you have a connection to Tipton, though. So I think that was one of the positives of your application before joining us was that you already lived here, right?
Speaker 00:Yep. No, I was actually born in Florida, moved to Indiana when I was around five, and then I spent most of my life here in Tipton. Very good. Moved to Georgia for a few years while I was in high school and decided to come back.
Speaker 01:Very good. Well, certainly we've been excited with you joining the team and I've been impressed with some of the work already from the department. I think that's what we're going to transition to next is the municipal services, previously known as the street department. They really like the catch-all of departments for the city of Tipton and just want to explore a little bit of that with you because here we're getting ready to head into pool season and you guys have been I think doing some heavy lifting at the pool, trying to get it ready for opening day. And usually by now we would have an opening day, but because of the cooler weather, it's kind of delayed us a little bit. But tell us maybe just briefly some of the responsibilities you guys help with on an annual basis with the pool.
Speaker 00:Yeah, so we've had a pretty busy spring. First off, we spend hours and days pressure washing the pool, getting it cleaned up from the winter weather, the dirt. getting a vac truck out here, vaccing out all the leaves. And then once it's cleaned, then we still have to get the pumps running, hang the sunshades. We do a lot of work to get the pool going.
Speaker 01:Yeah, well, I appreciate that effort, and I'm sure the kids of the town appreciate that too. So moving on to our next project, Responsibility, I think this is sort of a weekly activity for you guys, but yard waste is a big responsibility, especially during what seems to be the spring and the fall where we get a lot more of that debris. Certainly an activity that continues to grow and we try to manage, but we're trying to make some efforts, I'd say, to help make this a more efficient task because we do have a small crew and it's really quite easy for us to get behind and picking up whether it's leaves or yard debris limbs especially when storms come through so what what items are we typically collecting from homes in the alleys or along the sidewalks where alleys don't exist from folks
Speaker 00:yeah so we we actually run yard waste five days a week We're picking up anything from limbs to grass clippings to leaves, anything that's really sat out by the alley that we can pick up and take out to the recycle center.
Speaker 01:Yeah, and I think that's one of the things we're trying to work on is confining. And I think even our ordinance states that the items left yard waste per tier should be in some kind of container. And just as a community, we've gotten away from that a little bit. And it's causing some downstream issues, such as clogging some of the drains around town. And so we're trying to work on some solutions, you and I, on how do we address that. So with that comes, we just talked about the alleys, but like yard waste, or not yard waste, large item pickups. So previously, the city of Tipton used to just pick up trash in the alleys. And a couple of years ago, there was a change where we now were going to start charging individuals to pick up the large item pickup. So can you briefly run me through what that process looks like? If an individual has a sofa or a mattress, How do they go about making sure that thing gets picked up in the alley?
Speaker 00:Yeah, so for a large item pickup, you would either come into the street department, 500 Green Street, or you can send a check in the mail to us or drop one off in our mailbox, and we'll get it either the next day or a couple days after. But we pick up anything besides construction material. Okay. Also, refrigerators because they have Freon. We don't pick up those kind of items. But anything else, it's $35 for a dump truck load. It's not per item. So, you know, anything up to a dump truck load, $35, and we'll come pick it up.
Speaker 01:Really? So I'm cleaning out my garage, got a couple items or maybe a lot of items. So long as they fit in the dump truck, $35 to haul it away. That sounds like a pretty good deal.
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Well, like I said, catch all for the city of Tipton, but I think more specific to the responsibilities of your department includes road maintenance, road projects, and we've got a few going on right now. And I think probably the most obvious one is West Street. So give us a quick update. Where are we at with this project and maybe some of the next couple steps as we head toward completion of that project?
Speaker 00:Yeah, so on West Street, we just got the water main in, sanitized. The water test came back good. So this week we started putting in service lines. We're working our way to Madison on all the service lines. The estimate for that work is two to three weeks and all the service lines would be put in. Once the service lines are done, then we'll start digging out the roadway and getting ready for paving.
Speaker 01:Very good. So that last part of the process seems like we've been waiting this entire project for it. But in truth, we had to do what was underground first and then work our way to the top surface. Do you expect that building the roadway to last a couple weeks or another month? Or what do you think? I mean, of course, all weather dependent.
Speaker 00:Yeah, everything's weather dependent. And that's kind of why this project's taken as long as it has with all the rain that we've gotten. But once the service lines are complete... I expect the subgrade treatment to take roughly a week, no more than two weeks, and then we'll get to paving and doing the multi-use path on the east side of the road. That shouldn't take more than a week itself.
Speaker 01:Yeah, so going back to the roadway, this is truly going to be a reconstructed road. Is that right?
Speaker 00:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 01:And I'm not aware... Certainly there's been a road that's been reconstructed in the city of Tipton previously, but this has probably got to be one of the very few that has been reconstructed. So this shouldn't, in theory, become the nicest street in the city of Tipton because we are going to replace all that subgrade material and recompact it and then add a new layer on top. Is that your estimation too?
Speaker 00:Yeah, absolutely. With separating the... The sanitary and storm sewer, it'll be one of the best draining roads in the city of Tipton, along with it'll be one of the strongest roads that we have.
Speaker 01:Very good. So we're doing a similar project, not exactly, but similar in some of the theories or strategies behind separating the sewer and stormwater on East Street, right? So we're trying to work on timelines and getting that pre-construction meeting scheduled. So tell us maybe briefly about that project. Of course, it's not... known yet, timelines and such, because we're still working on that. But again, the strategies are the same, correct?
Speaker 00:Yeah, yeah, correct. The next project, which hopefully will break ground late summer, early fall, it would be E Street, along with half a block on Independence, and then the connecting... Jackson Street from east to Independence. It looks kind of like a backwards H, but we'll be doing the same thing. We'll be putting new storm sewer in, new roadway. The only difference is there will not be a multi-use path on that project. It'll just be concrete sidewalks like it is now.
Speaker 01:And again, with that, in that side of town, maybe more specifically, at least I've got pictures and maybe you do too from residents where the water, the drainage is so bad that the water actually gets over the curbs in a heavy rain event. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how that project drains after it's completed because it does seem like these two southern quadrants of the city do have the worst drainage in the city of Tipton because the other areas have been somewhat addressed already in the past. But, again, the areas nearest the creek seem to struggle. And we're hopeful. I think that's the strategy here is that this separation helps to improve that drainage in those areas.
Speaker 00:Yeah, absolutely. And it will alleviate some of the water going to the water treatment plant itself. Correct. With a lot of the city being on a combined system, all that water goes out to the treatment plant, and then they have to treat it and do what they do. Right. Separating it, we can get rid of the rain runoff compared to the sanitary. Yeah.
Speaker 01:So East Street, maybe different than West Street, where this was one shot we got from Madison down to South Street. East Street's a little different, right? We think this is probably going to be at least two phases, could end up being three phases, because we're trying to get to Madison and Independence. Is that correct?
Speaker 00:Yeah, yeah. It's going to be a multi-phase project just with– how expensive everything is. But we're also doing more than just one road. We're doing, you know, Independence also, which is a pretty poorly draining road on the south end. With all this rain we've had, we've been out there multiple times cleaning those drains, keeping them clear, trying to get that area to drain and not flood.
Speaker 01:Yeah, correct.
Unknown:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Correct. So then there's another project that's happening in town, though it's not a city project, but NDOT on East 28. So we're going to have the road shut down for a brief period of time. But as I understand, they're waiting for school to let out. And in truth, maybe by the time this podcast airs, the work could actually be done. But that's another project where we're cooperating with NDOT, trying to be good partners and helpful in whatever way we can. But again, another project taking place. Do you suspect that that would have been a project you may have worked on? I
Speaker 00:think so. If I would have stayed with NDOT, that would have probably been one I would have been on.
Speaker 01:Yeah?
Speaker 00:Yeah.
Speaker 01:Well, I think that's all the questions I had for you. I think it's great the work that the street department is doing for the city as it relates to yard waste and large item pickup. And then certainly the road maintenance that we've been trying to be a little more strategic and not just doing the top surface of these roads, but thinking about what exists underneath and how we would just be more strategic in addressing those issues. So certainly, Dylan, I appreciate your leadership at the department and look forward to continued success with you.
Speaker 00:Yep.
Speaker 01:Thank you. Well, thanks for tuning in for another podcast of the Tipton Thrives podcast. My name is Keegan Schmicker, Mayor of the City of Tipton, and joined today by Dylan Dietrich, Superintendent of Municipal Services Department.
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