For Immediate Release: 11/10/2020 5:03 pm
City Manager Edward M. Augustus Jr. has announced the hiring of Jay J. Fink, P.E., as the City’s new Commissioner of Public Works & Parks, effective Nov. 30.
“I am happy to welcome Jay to the City team,” City Manager Augustus said. “With more than three decades of municipal public works experience in governmental organizations big and small, he has a proven track record of meeting the goals and expectations of the administrations with which he has worked. Jay has an innovative approach aimed at expecting the unexpected, which will be important in meeting the many challenges of a City like Worcester. His forward-thinking and proactive planning will help him lead the department through numerous upcoming projects as we strive to make Worcester a better place to live and work for all people.”
Working under the direction of the City Manager, the Commissioner of Public Works & Parks oversees multiple divisions, including Engineering & Architecture, Water, Sewer, Streets, Sanitation, Parking Garages, Parking Lots and On-Street Parking, Parks, Golf Course, Snow Removal and Street Lights. The department includes more than 450 full-time personnel.
Mr. Fink has served the past eight years as Assistant Director of the Department of Public Works for the City of Miami Beach, where he helped oversee an annual operating budget of $160 million and 354 full-time employees. He served as Acting Public Works Director following the retirement of the previous director, and was instrumental in the reaccreditation of the department in 2015 and 2019 by the American Public Works Association. He successfully orchestrated the reimbursement submittal to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $12 million following Hurricane Irma in 2017. He represented the City of Miami Beach as a guest of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on an international trip to explore adaptation strategies of living below sea level throughout the county. He was also involved with the development and adoption of the City’s Stormwater Management Master Plan that considered for the first time the effects of climate change and sea level rise. The plan resulted in a $500-million program.
Prior to his role in the City of Miami Beach, Mr. Fink served as Commissioner of Public Works in the City of Lynn from 2004-2012, and held the same role in Quincy from 2002-2004. In Lynn, he oversaw an operating budget of $9.5 million and 55 full-time employees. In Quincy, he was in charge of a $32-million budget and 170 full-time personnel. Prior to that, he worked as Utilities Director for the City of Newton’s Department of Public Works from 1998-2002. He also served 14 years on the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Advisory Board.
Mr. Fink will be relocating to Massachusetts and residing in Worcester.
“I embrace the opportunity to work for the second largest city in New England,” Mr. Fink said. “There is so much happening in the City of Worcester right now and in the future, including the building of new schools that will supplement the education of thousands of children, major street improvement projects that will make roads more accessible to all who use them, and of course, a new ballpark that will create memories for generations to come. I look forward to building upon the great work that has already been done, and enhancing the experience of all those who live, work and play in Worcester.”
