George Bradley to retire after 16 years of maintaining Lodi's streets

George Bradley stands in front of an antique Austin Motor Grader on Monday. The equipment was used for grading streets. Bradley will work his last day as Lodi's streets and drainage manager Wednesday, as he retires after 16 years with the city. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

George Bradley to retire after 16 years of maintaining Lodi's streets

By Maggie Creamer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 6:49 AM PDT

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In a quick-paced voice, George Bradley smiles as he picks up and describes the antique smudge pots that were used as traffic barricades before street lights.

When it comes to talking about the streets residents drive on every day, Bradley never hesitates to rattle off numbers or trivia that he has accumulated through 35 years working on pavement and asphalt.

Wednesday will be Bradley's last day in his office after 16 years as Lodi's streets and drainage manager.

"I've had a lot of opportunity to help people, both citizens and employees, in three different agencies. That's pretty fulfilling. I like it when I can make a difference," he said.

While The Beatles' song "In My Life" played quietly from Bradley's computer, he sat in his office Tuesday with mostly bare walls but a traffic light hanging behind his desk. He said the thing he will miss most about his job is his employees.

With the city's budget cuts, he said his employees are still striving to maintain the city's infrastructure, which includes pavement, sidewalks, trees, 50 acres of landscaping in over 200 different places, lane line striping, signs and traffic signals.

"We have people who want to do the same level of service that we were able to do five years ago when we had twice the money," Bradley said.

Bradley is one of the employees taking a two-year retirement incentive the city offered with the goal of decreasing staffing costs. Bradley said he had planned to retire a year from now, so the incentive didn't move up his retirement date by much.

The incentives are one of the ways the council reduced city expenses to deal with an expected $2.4 million deficit in revenue for fiscal year 2009, which started July 1.

Calling the reductions in staffing his "heartache," Bradley said the number of his employees dedicated strictly to streets and drainage are down from 26 in 2006 to only 18 now. The reductions happened by not filling positions, demotions, reassigning an employee to graffiti abatement, layoffs and the retirement incentive.

"We are without a doubt in survival mode," Bradley said. "We are trying to hang on to the investment the citizens have already put into Lodi. We are using every trick in the book to help stretch dollars. We spend every penny like it is our own."

Bradley has been able to find solutions to the city's deteriorating infrastructure, said Wally Sandelin, the public works director.

The city has started to use a rubber chip cape seal, which saves the city from having to do a more expensive fix. It also uses recycled tires.

"He finds not only better products, but at a cheaper cost," Sandelin said.

Another one of the streets division's most recent projects is patching 12,000 sidewalk defects, which took about 14 or 15 months of work.

"We have reduced the likelihood someone will trip and fall and get hurt. ... You fall down on a hiking trail. You shouldn't fall and get hurt on the sidewalk," Bradley said.

George Bradley at a glance

Age: He will be 59 in a couple weeks, which he describes as "too old."

Position: Sixteen years as Streets and Drainage Manager. Before that, he spent 19 years working for the cities of San Luis Obispo and Anaheim.

Hometown: Anaheim.

Education: Graduated in 1968 from Savanna High School. He attended some college at Cypress College and University of the Pacific.

"I did study under the school of hard knocks, and I get my best lessons from experience," he said. "She's a tough grader, and she gives the tests before the lesson."

Family: Married 36 years to his wife, Barbara. He has two sons. Eric Bradley is a detective with the Lodi Police Department, and Lucas Bradley is a behavior analyst for Ceres School District.

Parting gifts from other city employees: A fire hydrant and parking meter painted black to symbolize his love for the Raiders. The parking meter's coin slot opened to have a Pittsburgh Steelers decal.

Bradley has adopted the strategy of the rest of the Public Works department of keeping as much maintenance work in-house as possible to reduce costs, Sandelin said. He also said Bradley has been able to educate the public about not harming the water supply with chemicals going down storm drains.

Mayor Larry Hansen will miss his ability to solve problems and talk with citizens to resolve issues and concerns.

"He cared. It was more than just a job," Hansen said. "He cared about the city, the streets and sidewalks, and making sure they were kept in good repair."

Even though he will be leaving the city, Bradley will continue his career in streets and drainage through two other jobs. He will work as a consultant for a local pavement company part-time. He will also work with WGR, another local company, to continuing education about storm drainage.

"I'll hopefully make a difference to the environment and our citizens," Bradley said.

Throughout his career, he said his best education has been through his experiences.

"I did study under the school of hard knocks, and I get my best lessons from experience," he said. "She's a tough grader, and she gives the tests before the lesson."

He is most looking forward to taking his RV around the country his wife, Barbara, "the girl of my dreams," he said. City budget cuts have already given him time to start his adventures, he said.

"My furlough Fridays have been Clearlake and Bodega Bay, so it's part of my economic stimulus program," Bradley said.

Contact reporter Maggie Creamer at maggiec@lodinews.com or read her blog at www.lodinews.com/blog/citybuzz.

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