Windham Public Works director settles into new role

By Masha Yurkevich

From snow and mud to potholes and street sweeping, being the Windham Public Works Director is no easy task, but Brian Morin has dedicated himself to the work.

Windham Public Works Director Brian Morin
assumed his duties leading the department 
last fall and takes a lot of pride in Windham
and works hard to make sure he is serving
 the people in the community properly.
PHOTO BY JENNIFER LEGERE 

Morin grew up in Sanford and moved to Windham in 2013. He is married to his wife, Sherri, and together they have four children and 10 grandchildren.

“Prior to coming to Windham Public Works, I worked for William Arthur in Kennebunk for 20 years, where I was the Facilities and Safety Supervisor, I was laid off in 2013,” says Morin. “I started at Windham Public Works as a custodian and because of my experience at my previous employer, I was promoted to the position of Building and Grounds Manager for the Town of Windham where I worked for 10 years. I was promoted to the position of Interim Public Works Director in August 2024. I was officially named Windham Public Works Director in November 2024.”

As the town’s Director of Public Works, Morin is responsible for overseeing the operations of the Highway Department, Buildings and Grounds, the Fleet Mechanics and anything pertaining to the roadways.

“I also manage the budget for Public Works and serve on various committees,” he says.

Morin takes a lot of pride in a job well done and truly enjoys working to improve the community he lives in. One of the more challenging aspects of this position is not being able to make everyone happy.

“There are always going to be people; residents and employees that don’t agree with your decisions” says Morin. “All you can do is ensure your decisions have the greater good in mind.”

He says that Windham Public Works is fortunate to have a great group of employees that have the town’s best interests at heart.

“Regarding equipment, we currently have reliable equipment; however, it is not to say there is not room for some improvement and upgrades over the next few years,” says Morin. “As the community grows, the equipment in our department will need to keep up with that growth. We are fortunate to have a beautiful, new facility that houses Public Works as well as the RSU 14 bus garage.”

Windham is growing at a rapid rate, with lots of new developments and roads along with apartment and condominium complexes.

“An increase in population will create more traffic on our roads and ultimately more wear and tear on our town roads,” Morin says. “The Public Works Department is ready to address these issues as they arise.”

The biggest challenge that Public Works is facing right now, that could also be found true at many other places, is employing CDL drivers, Morin said.

“We have been understaffed in recent months, however, we just registered to be able to train CDL drivers,” he said. “So going forward, we will be able to bring on employees that do not have a CDL and train them on the job to help them obtain their CDL license.”

This is a huge step in moving forward to combat staffing issues. It can also hopefully help potential applicants, where they would normally have to pay to attend driving school to obtain a CDL license.

“This winter, our crew did a great job considering the staffing challenges,” Morin says. “In addition to that, the Town of Windham has a lot of road miles to cover on each plow route. They had a couple of storms that dragged out over two days that had the crews on the clock for 24 hours at a time. It can take a toll on people to get the job done.”

Morin says that there are a lot of town buildings, properties and cemeteries that need maintenance.

“As town roads are added and as our infrastructure grows, we need to think about how Public Works changes with it,” he said.

According to Morin, coming into the spring and summer months, Windham will have about three or four new staff members on the highway crew and a new Buildings Tech for Buildings and Grounds.

“We will be trying to train them for their CDL licenses while completing all the usual spring and summer tasks like sweeping the roads, ditching and culvert work, prepping for paving projects, erosion control, overseeing basin cleaning and road striping and at the same time acclimating new employees to their upcoming plow routes,” he said. “Thoughts of winter are never too far off our radar.”

He emphasized that Windham Public Works does its best to maintain the safety and integrity of our roads.

“I, personally, take a lot of pride in our town and do my best every day to make sure we are serving the people in our community,” says Morin. <