Foley, Ala. — (GSN) — Foley has opened a new campus for city departments serving its growing population. The 14-acre Foley Public Works Campus consolidates several operations in one location. The five-building facility houses the city’s Public Works, Engineering, Sanitation and Street departments. City officials, employees and other dignitaries marked the campus’s opening.

The city celebrated the opening on Monday, July 27, at the intersection of North Poplar Street and East Section Avenue. Mayor Ralph Hellmich said the campus was built to meet the needs of a city that has expanded significantly since the former public works building opened in 1991.

“When this old one was built, the population of Foley was 7,300,” Hellmich said. “We now have more than 30,000 residents. The public works staff has grown from 25 employees to over 100 people in these facilities. The fleet expanded from 142 vehicles to 520 vehicles.”

The former public works site no longer had enough space to meet demand for city services, Hellmich said. The new campus is expected to meet Foley’s public works needs for the next 30 to 40 years. The campus also provides workspace for departments that have added crews and services in recent years.

“We’re still growing,” Hellmich said. “Public Works now maintains more than 40 miles of sidewalks alone, expanded streets and drainage. We now have dedicated drainage crews, tree trimming crews, and road building crews. All of that has been done in the last few years because of the needs of our city.”

The campus was also designed to help city workers respond to emergencies, including hurricanes. All buildings at the facility are rated to withstand winds up to 160 miles per hour. Two natural gas generators will allow the departments to continue operating if electrical service is lost.

“One of the many things we’re very proud of is that these buildings were built with a higher wind capacity,” Hellmich said. “We now have a place for our employees to be safely housed during a storm, so they can get back out and get it cleaned up quickly afterward.”

“We also expanded our fuel capacity from basically a little over seven days to three or four weeks,” Hellmich said. “So now we’re even more resilient. We’ll have the fuel to get out and clean the roads up.”

At the new site, city crews collect garbage and recyclables, maintain streets and sidewalks, and perform other city tasks. The $17 million center includes offices and operating facilities for the Public Works, Sanitation, Street, and Engineering departments.

The campus includes a garage area with about 16,000 square feet of space for maintenance of Foley’s municipal fleet. That fleet includes public works vehicles, police and fire units, and cars and trucks used by other city departments.

Foley sanitation crews collect residential garbage from 23,000 green cans across the city each week. Five trucks collect the waste on routes over four days. The city also collects recyclables, with about 40% of Foley households participating in that program.