Montalvo keeps public works working

Nicole Montalvo is instrumental in keeping the public works crews in Sisters out on the streets and working.

Recently promoted to the position of Public Works Operations Coordinator, Montalvo assists in scheduling to keep the busy crews coordinated in their efforts.

"I now do the scheduling with the outside crew, working with Paul (Bertagna, public works director) because there's so many projects going on," she said.

She handles administrative duties for the department and is responsible for managing preparations and response to special events. The scale of that work is indicative of how much bigger the public works' department job has become in recent years. Montalvo handles 60 events.

"When I started there were about 20," she said.

That was back in 2008.

Montalvo, a native of Holland, came out of the tourism industry in Los Angeles, where she scheduled tours.

"It was very much a multi-task kind of position," she said. It was good background for her current job.

Montalvo was looking for a change. Her friends Kate and Shawn O'Hern had moved to Sisters, and she came up to visit. She was quickly sold, especially since she had a son, Orry, to raise.

"L.A.'s not really the best place to raise your kids," she said.

Like many parents, the quality of Sisters schools was an important deciding factor in her relocation.

"He can't do better than the Sisters School District," she said. "The opportunities here for kids are better than L.A."

The first move in 2005 was a false start. She returned to L.A. for six months, only to find the tourism industry crashing, and she came back to Sisters.

Life in a small town is still a bit of an adjustment, she acknowledges.

"Stuff closes at 5 in the afternoon," she said. "I still have a problem with that at times."

But the rewards are great, and she particularly enjoys the extensive contact with the public that her job entails.

"We get called for everything," she said. "Dead deer; potholes - you name it."

Negative feedback is part of the job, but Nicole finds it the most challenging aspect.

"I want everybody to be happy and I want everybody to like us and that's never going to happen," she said. However, she noted, "more and more there are actually people who will walk into City Hall and say 'Thank you, that looks great.'"

Outside of work, Montalvo enjoys photography.

"I never leave the house without the camera," she said.

Although the job doesn't allow for a lot of it, she likes to travel.

"My entire family is overseas ... they're all in Holland and we're going to go over there for Christmas," she said. "That's exciting."

Montalvo is more than a coordinator for the public works crew: She's a fan.

"This crew - they're awesome," she said. "I can't say that enough. They're the superheroes of this town."

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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