Gerard Decosta, Litchfield Road Agent

by Lynne Ober

Multi-tasking Gerard DeCosta handles challenging priorities with the aplomb of a man with no worries. DeCosta was appointed Litchfield's Road Agent and then ran for the position at the last election. He's been putting his multitasking skills to use ever since.

The Litchfield Road Agent position is only budgeted for 15 hours per week. That seems like too few hours for a growing community and DeCosta acknowledges that it is a challenge to meet all the priorities. "I have a stack of pink telephone slips and sometimes the ladies at Town Hall think I'm invisible, but with only 15 hours a week budgeted, the reality is that I won't be there most of the time."

In fact, Litchfield residents are extremely lucky that the talented DeCosta has a fulltime job that allows for flexibility.

"When I was in high school, I took every voc-tech course available to me," explained DeCosta. "My family owned a large meat processing business and if you've ever seen a family operation, you know that each of us had to wear many hats. You have to juggle all the time. You don't think about it. You just do it. I had to know about the mechanical end as well as the business end."

Although DeCosta worked in his family business during high school, he joined the Navy "before the draft got me." Four years later, he moved to New Hampshire and continued working in the family business. At that point, he began attending night classes while working full time and earned an AA in Business Administration. The family business grew to a 15 million dollar company and DeCosta grew with it. He ran the shipping department and learned how to negotiate large contracts, including union contracts, to write bid specs and buy expensive plant equipment as well as specialized trucks before he became Plant Manager with responsibilities for supervising one hundred employees as well as the entire plant. "We sold our business to a larger firm, and I moved on," DeCosta says.

DeCosta worked in the construction industry, doing both residential and commercial buildings. "When we did the five-story T. J. Maxx building, I learned how to glaze. Installing glass for a high rise is very interesting."

Using experience gained in the family business, he became a technical service representative servicing the meat industry. Today he has a laptop, a digital camera, thirty plus years in the industry, and an ability to trouble-shoot any and all aspects of the meat industry. Fortunately this job allows flexibility needed to be Litchfield's part time Road Agent.

Talking about his Road Agent experience he reports, "I run the department like it was my family business. I act as if the dollars we spend actually come out of my pocket and my goal is to always provide value for the dollar because I know that I'm spending Litchfield tax dollars and I pay taxes here."

Litchfield is still building. Every new development adds more miles of roads. "As Road Agent, I have to be concerned about lane miles," DeCosta remarks. "For every mile of road that we build, we get at least two lane miles. More if the road is wider than 2-lanes or has turning lanes. Litchfield has over seventy miles of road. Lane miles are more than double that."

Lane miles are important when negotiating repairs or snow plowing because both sides of the road, as well as shoulders must be considered.

When asked if the Road Agent should be budgeted for more hours, DeCosta smiles but declines to answer. "It's up to the town as to what they can afford, but we are building…. I've had weeks where I've worked 60 hours, and even in the off-season, I still work the fifteen hours. I love this job. I just hope it doesn't grow too much more without the Selectmen raising the budgeted hours because I really have to balance my fulltime job with the requirements needed here, and Litchfield's requirements are definitely growing."

Litchfield's Highway Department consists of 15 hours per week of DeCosta's time plus one worker who works three days a week. "I worry about Gil. He's seventy-four and lots of jobs that we do are too dangerous to send one man out alone. There's always danger of an injury."

Explaining the breadth of his duties, DeCosta talks about some of his calls. "If a tree gets blown down, I get called. If a car strikes an animal, I get called. Trees hanging over wires, I get called. Brush blocking a corner, I get called," he says. "I'm responsible for maintaining town roads - every aspect. I also review plans and designs for new roads which requires coordination with the Planning Board."

This year he's worked on the Tanager road project and on Moose Hollow connection to Pine Crest. "It's rewarding work and I enjoy working with the various people," DeCosta said.

Litchfield has a ten-year plan for road upkeep. Former Road Agent Roland Bergeron established this plan. "Roland is a hard act to follow," DeCosta acknowledges. "His road maintenance plan is excellent. This is the first year of that plan. It requires a budget of a quarter of a million a year in order to us to reach the goal in a 10-year time frame. For this year, $150,000 from "block grant” monies was used. This allowed us not to use tax dollars. The goal was to get as much done as possible without affecting the tax base so we had to prioritize carefully." Nevertheless, DeCosta was extremely busy. "We've replaced some of the old storm drains. The Cutler Road project was very busy and was extended when residents couldn't get connected to the gas in a timely fashion."

"It's a matter of juggling priorities, balancing needs. Everyone is trying to hold the line on expenses, and spend as little as possible. I use a lot of contractors and the bid process is lengthy. Bottom line? Litchfield probably does need a Road Agent every day of the week, but Selectmen have to balance that cost against other expenses. I'm a businessman, I understand that."