When the City of North Chicago consolidated the water, street and engineering divisions into a single public works department in 2011, the goal was to cut costs, create efficiencies and increase communication.The distribution crew merged with the street crew to form the street and utility division. That has been good for the staff at the North Chicago (Ill.) Water Treatment Plant. “Now the water plant team only has to focus on plant operations and not distribution,” says Josh Wheeler, city engineer and public works director. “Not only can they spend all their time producing quality water, but the allocation of
