“In every municipality, the external team is a service in direct and constant contact with the population, because it deals with aspects that touch on different sensitive and, above all, visible areas: from the maintenance of municipal roads to the collection of waste and plant waste, from the care of paths to the management of infrastructure for events and demonstrations, to name but a few tasks. And I think the service works well in Brissago, because we receive few complaints and many compliments.” The municipal Alessandro De Bortoli, head of the Dicastery of Public Works, sums up with these words his satisfaction for the work carried out by the Team led by Mauro Perazzi under the coordination of Martin Treichler.
The latter, employed in the Technical Office, has been coordinating the team for about a year. An important part of its role is to plan the work to be carried out throughout the year, to manage the maintenance and purchase of service equipment, but also for machinery of a certain value, and to organise equipment and vehicle maintenance. Together with the head of Public Works Giacomo Fiscalini, Martin Treichler plans long-term investments by submitting credit applications to the City Hall and, when necessary, to the City Council. These include, for example, the planned renewal of the fleet of vehicles used by the Outdoor Team, including the recently purchased new electric urban sweeper.
“My role is purely organisational, and I also find it important that there is a sort of filter between the team and the public, not least because calls and reports often go directly to the Technical Office. In some cases I send the information directly to the manager, in others I carry out an inspection to check if it is an intervention that can be done by the team or if it is advisable to call a specialized external company”.
Treichler and Perazzi draw up a weekly plan, discuss the priorities of the interventions, the purchase of necessary equipment, the maintenance of the vehicle fleet, plan any training courses, and so on.
“My role – continues Treichler – is also to check that there is always a good working climate within the group. Everyone knows that my door is always open and that every collaborator can find in me a reference person to lead, with whom he can express himself freely. Almost every morning I come to them to see if there are any problems, and if there are any, I try to solve them as soon as possible.”
Mauro Perazzi has been in charge of the external team since 1 March last year. "Me included we are in 8 in the winter months and we reach 11/12 units during the summer, when the volume of work increases," he explains. We take care of the general maintenance of the municipal roads up to the mountains, of the paths, of the urban cleanliness as a whole, from the collection of waste to the emptying of the baskets, we carry out forestry interventions, such as the recent road protection intervention carried out on the ‘fire cutter’ in Via Barcone ... But also of the funeral services for the cemetery, the management of the structures for events and demonstrations, the two ecocenters, the maintenance of the churchyards and the cleaning of the bell towers. In short, there is no shortage of work”.
Perazzi has a long political experience at municipal level: 20 years in the City Council and 10 in the City Hall, a position he left last year to take over the leadership of the Team. “I must say that I miss politics, and I think about it every Monday night, when the City Hall meets in session. But I'm happy with the choice I made. Managing the external team involves intense planning work, which must also be coordinated with the inevitable unforeseen interventions. But beyond planning there is also work on the ground, which I do regularly with colleagues. And, in addition to routine work, I find it very rewarding to solve the problems of the people who call us, which we try to do as quickly as possible.”
To ensure the good functioning of the team, concludes Perazzi, ‘it is necessary to be able to listen to all those who are part of it, talking a lot with colleagues, but also, in the end, to decide and take the responsibility that every decision entails. I am fortunate to have a very good knowledge of the municipal administrative system thanks to my political experience, which makes it easier for me to do so. My goal is that the service we do to the population is dynamic, efficient and quality. It is essential to enhance the skills and merits of individuals, so as to make them available to the team in order to have a strong and united group.’
Some works of the External Team in figures (2022):
- Events/events: 837 hours
- Forestry interventions: 614 hours
- Roads: 3’858 hours
- Trails: 2’095 hours
- Waste collection: 2’119 hours
- Management of eco-centres: 765 hours
- Annual total: Approximately 25 000 hours
