posted on 10/27/2022
Bill Boulanger, deputy director of Community Services, who began his career as an entry-level laborer in the sewer division and worked his way up through the ranks to become an expert in drinking water and an innovator in public works, retired last week after 35 years of service to the city.
"He always put the city first, sometimes to the detriment of his family," said Community Services Director John Storer, who has relied on Boulanger for his institutional knowledge of the city since Storer became director in 2017.
For years, whenever a water main breaks or a sewer fails, Boulanger was at the scene, regardless of the weather or time of day. "A lot of times I wasn't home for Christmas, wasn't home for birthdays," Boulanger said. "When they call, you had to go."
Water breaks are particularly common during long spells of frigid weather when the frost line deepens. Working in those temperatures are the events that stay with him and others working with him.
"I can remember one stretch – it was like every year we were working Christmas Day or Christmas Eve for water breaks or other issues," he said, crediting the support of his wife and children for his career and success. "I couldn't do what I do without her."
Boulanger came to the city for steady work and a career after working in construction at a time when it was common for workers to get laid off during the winter months. At $2.85 an hour, Boulanger would spend a significant amount of time early in his career in the sewer mains, installing them or cleaning up debris and waste solids before the city acquired a vacuum truck. "It was my job, so I did it," he said, noting that with the help of others, he cleaned most of the sewer lines in the city. "It didn't bother me too much."
About four years into the job, the city upgraded and got its first vacuum truck, and he could clean the debris and solids from above ground. "I thought I was in glory land," he said of the upgrade.
After about 10 years into his career, the city merged the water and sewer divisions under one unit. The supervising foreman left, and Boulanger was offered the job. "Back then, I didn't have a clue about the water," he said, praising his mentors who guided his journey, like Richard "Dicky" Gadbois, who retired in 2001. "From there, I grew, grew and grew."
He became superintendent of utilities, then superintendent of public works and utilities, and then became deputy director.
Boulanger isn't one for reading novels or non-fiction books. Instead, he prefers trade journals, manuals and other technical writing, where he picked up on new trends in the industry, such as the directional flushing of the water pipes, which cleans the system by scouring the lines that remove sediments and stale water from the system. He read up on it, saw some training and then brought it to Dover. "That's something I'm proud I implemented and that we still do to this day," he said.
With the help of others in Community Services and Information Technology, Boulanger conducted an assessment of utilities within the city and transferred his institutional knowledge of the unground utilities into a digital GIS asset management program, which has received two awards for its innovative work. "I've done an assessment of all the water mains in Dover, so I know where they are and what condition they are in," he said. "We have a classification on them so we know which ones are the worst ones and which ones should be replaced now, instead of just shooting dark and word of mouth."
Now the city has a database for future crews to work from. "That was a nice achievement," he said. "I was glad to have that done."
Even with crew utilizing digital maps in the field, Boulanger's knowledge of the system is unsurpassed.
"We can have a water main break, and people are looking at digital maps [for gate valve locations], and Bill can call in on the radio and say, 'You have to go under Ms. Jones' rose garden, with the red roses, not the white roses, because that's the valve you have to shut off,'" Storer said. "It's amazing the knowledge that he has."
Infrastructure calamities
Water main breaks can be stressful, especially when the location of the break is unknown.
"The one that got me the worse was the one million gallon a day leak in the city that we finally found in the Pacific Mills," Boulanger recalled.
They knew they had a significant leak, but its location remained a mystery for more than a year. In addition to city crews, the city brought in professional leak hunters but still could not find it. They got a lucky break when renovation work at the mills required the water to be shut off.
"When we shut the water main down, you could hear the leak going through the gate really bad. So we knew it was in there, so it was all hands on deck," Boulanger said. After jackhammering the floor, the water main was capped, and the leak finally stopped. "I was glad we found it. We were checking the city all over to find that leak."
Another mystery million-gallon leak occurred on a rainy Christmas Day in 2020. Boulanger utilized the water system itself to isolate the area of the leak by shutting off sectors of the city at the time. Thankfully, the leak was located that night.
Boulanger's knowledge of the system and his experience working in the field has helped engineers design projects that are easier to maintain with an eye to the future.
"Not just your future, but the guy coming after you," he'd tell his colleagues. "Try to think about that."
Awards and recognitions
Boulanger received numerous awards over the years.
For his work on improving the Berry Brook watershed, including his design work on what became known as the "Boulangenator," a catch basin that treats stormwater runoff efficiently, Boulanger received the Environmental Protection Agency's Region 1 Environmental Merit Award in 2016. He also received an award from the New England Stormwater Collaborative for his work at Berry Brook.
He received the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Salt Shaker Award for helping to reduce the city's salt use by improving efficiencies.
In 2001, Boulanger was named Employee of the Year for the City of Dover.
He also served a term as president of the New Hampshire Water Works Association.
Boulanger, who turns 65 in December, was one of 15 kids and grew up working on the Boulanger Dairy Farm, now New Hampshire Fish and Game land, at the end of Rabbit Road on Old Garrison Road. His farm work would begin before school and continue afterward until his family sold the farm and moved to Somersworth when he was mid-way through high school.
He returned to Dover, but ended up moving back to Somersworth after beginning his career in Dover so he could serve on Somersworth's Planning and other public boards. Boulanger was also appointed to the Somersworth City Council to fill vacancies on occasion.
Retirement?
Boulanger and his wife will soon journey across the country to visit family and friends before returning to Somersworth. He isn't too sure what the future will hold for him. He suspects he will return and work for the city part-time on a contract basis to help the engineering team review upcoming projects.
Boulanger will be missed by his colleagues, who enjoy his laughter, sense of humor, and dedication to the job. "It's hard to envision a day without having him around," Storer said. "Whenever an emergency pops up, everyone says, 'What would Bill do?'"
