What We Do
The Bureau of Operations and Parks, located at 945 Mt Read Blvd, represents the outstanding public works provided to city residents. Employees of this bureau work around the clock to ensure that Rochester's streets and neighborhoods are clean, safe, and attractive for residents and visitors. 
Contact Us
Norman Jones, Director
Bureau of Operations & Parks
945 Mt. Read Blvd
Rochester, NY 14606
(585) 428-6881 (for administration)
Email the Director's Office
FOR ALL SERVICE REQUESTS OR INQUIRIES:
Call 311(outside the city, dial 585-428-5990)
Check out a listing of all city services
Bureau Organization
The Director's Office manages the bureau. The unit is responsible for policy development, personnel management, budget development and oversight, and the review of operational performance.
The Solid Waste Collection Division remains a stalwart service division for the Bureau. This division applies cutting-edge innovation in the application of curb side pick-up. Solid Waste involves residential and commercial bulk pick-up, recyclables, and a disposal agreement with Monroe County. The Administrative arm of Solid Waste manages the division, licenses other commercial haulers in the city.
Residential Refuse Collection is responsible for the weekly pick-up of refuse from housing of 3 or less units. State-of-the-art single operator compactor trucks are utilized to empty toters provided to residents.
Commercial Refuse Collection provides scheduled pick-up to commercial, retail, food service, City School District, various Monroe County facilities and residential units of 4 or more. Recycling collects from both residential and commercial customers. A separate fleet and operators perform weekly collection of recyclable materials placed curbside in designated 'blue boxes'. Additionally, the unit operates the City's 'Materials Give Back' program whereby citizens can obtain screened soil, pea-gravel and bark mulch free of charge at the Colfax Street site.
The Special Services Division is the 'do-all' group within the Operations Bureau. It cleans and maintains city streets, tends to vacant lots, removes graffiti, prepares/restores areas for public functions, sweeps the streets, and removes debris, dead animals, or other obstructions from public space. Within Special Services, Street Maintenance performs as-needed and seasonal repairs to fix pot holes and address other street issues. Special Services also provides leaf collection in the fall, a service appreciated by many residents and business owners. The division is kept especially busy in the winter when it is tasked with the enormous responsibility of snow and ice control.
The Parks, Forestry, and Open Spaces Division maintains City parks, green spaces, the urban forest, and other public gathering places around Rochester. Within this division, Downtown District Services takes care of the special assessment district in our city's core, ensuring that it is clean and well-kept year 'round. Forestry manages the care of all City-owned trees on streets and in parks. It responds to the public's requests on tree management issues and conducts annual inspection of trees while also planting new ones each year. The Parks, Forestry, and Open Spaces Division also pays special attention to our city's gateway corridors and keeps these high visibility entrance points looking beautiful.
The Equipment Services Division maintains over 1,300 pieces of vehicular equipment within the City fleet. Housed at the Mt. Read Blvd facility, the division maintains and repairs vehicles, runs a machine shop that rebuilds or fabricates parts, and provides a computerized fueling station. This division has a green mission: in addition to gasoline and diesel fuel, the City fleet includes several Compressed Natural Gas operated vehicles, several hybrid vehicles, and several E85 fueled vehicles in an attempt to assess alternative fueling systems.
The Building Services Division operates from its Andrews Street facility. Its staff is charged with maintaining and repairing all City-owned building. The division addresses any HVAC, plumbing, masonry, or electrical issue in a City building. Building Services has a green mission, as well: it conducts the City's energy conservation program by monitoring energy consumption and implementing cost saving steps.