After 40 years of plowing snow and maintaining Lower Burrell, driver Edmund Homa retires

Lower Burrell decked out its public works garage with balloons and a large lunch spread earlier this month to celebrate the retirement of longtime driver Edmund Homa.

For 40 years, Homa, 66, of Lower Burrell has answered calls in the middle of the night to jump into a snowplow or remove a fallen tree or whatever needed to be done.

As a driver and a worker for the city’s Public Works Department, Homa’s duties focused on tasks that most residents take for granted — tasks that result in tidy tree-lined streets and good drainage.

He has hauled asphalt, dirt and gravel; plowed snow; cleaned out catch basins; trimmed trees overhanging city streets; cut grass in the city’s parks; and ran the street sweeper all summer long.

“Ed has been an exemplary employee who, no matter what time of day or night, he’d always answer my calls,” said Todd Giammatteo, director of the city’s Public Works Department.

“I like my job and the people I work with,” Homa said. “I’m blessed to have had this job.”

Homa was hired in 1982 when companies weren’t hiring and jobs were scarce, he said.

“The city has come a long way since I started to work here,” he said.

Back in the old days, ashes were used to treat winter roads, which made the roads dusty in the spring, he said. Now, salt is widely used.

The city’s machinery for public works projects decades ago was old and not top quality, Homa said. Now, the department works with top-notch equipment and has a new public works building, Homa said, crediting the upgrades to city council and the mayor.

“We went from the Flintstones to the Jetsons,” he said.

The public works department employs about nine workers.

“Ed’s retirement is another big loss to Lower Burrell,” Mayor John Andrejcik said.

“We can only hope to get the same caliber person in his stead.”

Another longtime employee, zoning and ordinance officer Michael Nedley, retired recently.

Homa’s retirement plans include taking some time off, riding his motorcycle and possibly picking up a part-time job.

He said he will spend more time with his family, including his wife, Kelly; seven children; and three grandchildren.

“I’m not used to sitting around,” Homa said, “although my wife will keep me busy.”