Chris Cooper (left) has taken over Superintendent duties for the city street department and Neil O’Brien has joined the department as an employee.

With the retirement of John Novak, Chris Cooper has been named Superintendent of the city’s Street Department and welcomed Neil O’Brien to the staff last month.

Cooper, a 19-year veteran of the street department, will oversee the day-day operations of the department. Over the years, Cooper has worked alongside Novak plowing snow, putting up holiday decorations, maintained streets and storm sewers and “a little bit of everything”. As superintendent, he will supervise O’Brien and make the decisions for the department.

“My goal going forward to fix some streets that haven’t been fixed and do some intersections we did not get to last year,” Cooper said. “We’ve had some rough weather recently and that’s how it goes with the position. We’ve had to come some roads because of water going over them by Woodland and by the lift station.”

While it hasn’t necessarily been an easy start to the position for Cooper, he credits Novak for helping him prepare to take over the duties and working with him over the years.

“John knew a lot of what was going on around here in terms of the sewers and properties,” Cooper said. “I’m excited for this opportunity and hope to make a few small changes, including more focus on the streets. I enjoy the variety of this position and being outdoors.”

Joining Cooper on the street department is Neil O’Brien, formerly of the Des Moines area and served four years of active duty in the Marine Corps. His wife is from the area and the family is working to return to the area. O’Brien started his position a month ago working on snow removal, attending to water main breaks and helping to maintain roads in Traer.

“I love the small town environment here in Traer,” O’Brien said. “It’s not like in a large community where a square mile it isn’t overwhelming.”

O’Brien is still learning the ropes in Traer as he works with Cooper to grow the street department and accomplish more work in the future. Much like Cooper, O’Brien enjoys the fact every day is different, especially with recent weather requiring the department to help with flooding or filling potholes.

Both men hope to address more street work this coming summer and maintain the level of service expected from the street department. The street department reports to the Traer City Council at their monthly meetings and their reports to the Council are published in the city minutes. For any question or more information regarding the department, call (319) 478-2580.