Chris Putman is living out a dream that began in his sandbox playing with Tonka toys.

While his official title is equipment operator for the Department of Public Works (DPW), technically he is the unsung hero of Legacy Park.

His special skills have saved taxpayers a lot of money. Putman drives the Caterpillar skid steer loader, the 314 excavator and other heavy equipment. He’s recently used this equipment to transform much of the 350-acre Legacy Park.

The construction vehicles have allowed him to build roads, remove nearly 30 acres of invasive species, unearth hidden drain culverts, devise water drainage systems to avoid roads or trails from being washed away, replace 50-year-old fire hydrants and the like. If Northville Township had hired a contractor to complete what he has in about seven months, it would have easily cost $300,000 or more.

And it’s never felt like work.

“We have to service our water and sewer customers – that's the priority of our job,” Putman said. “This is just a bonus for me. When I was a kid, I used to play with smaller versions of them – toys – in a sandbox. Yeah, this is like living a childhood dream, because, you know, I get to do this and get paid for it now.”


The Road Less Traveled

The state has an established oil wellhead on Legacy Park and through an easement, workers access it regularly. Drivers in pickup trucks and 18-wheelers come daily to the wellhead.

To keep Legacy Park visitors safe, Northville Township Director of Public Services (DPS) Bob Belair wanted to keep the wellhead truck drivers off the same road that park visitors will eventually use. He asked Putman to build one.

They planned it near an existing fence line, but the more Putman plotted it out, he knew he could use a portion of one of the current roads already there from the Northville State Psychiatric Hospital and create an offshoot from it.

“It was 750 feet rather than the 1,000 feet we originally planned out,” Putman said. “The footage for the equipment doesn’t matter but when you start paying for gravel, it gets expensive. The price was substantial.”

They went with Putman’s recommendation.

“Chris exemplifies what Public Works is about and is a true asset to our community,” said DPS Director Belair. “He is self-driven, always wants to learn, hard-working and, most importantly, cares about the work he does for our community. His sense of pride and ownership in everything he does reflects what every Public Works Department wants on their team. Northville Township is lucky to have Chris working for us.”


A Problem Solver

In another area of the park, he noticed water from a field going down a hill and migrating toward Wayne Avenue, washing out the road. His intuition told him that the sewer infrastructure from the state hospital was still there, so he started digging, looking for it. Sure enough, he quickly found an end of a pipe and a culvert that had become blocked over time. He and the DPW team have cleaned it out to get it going again, allowing the water to dissipate into a nearby wooden area to avoid erosion.

“Water always wins,” he said.

So does hard work.

“I've done a lot of different things, but this is, by far, is the most rewarding.”