Lynn DPW chief stepping down

LYNN – The man in charge of cleaning Lynn’s parks and streets, filling its potholes and beautifying the city for the past seven years is stepping down.Jay Fink, the commissioner for Lynn’s Department of Public Works, will leave the position at the end of the month to take a similar job in Miami Beach, Fla., a move that will allow him to spend more time with his daughter and newborn grandchild, Fink said on Tuesday in an interview with The Daily Item.The shift is bittersweet for Fink, who said he will be leaving behind a city he worked hard to improve.”I think I leave Lynn in a better place than I found it,” he said.Several city councilors agreed.”Those are going to be big shoes to fill,” said Council President Tim Phelan.Phelan said Fink has been indefatigable in what can often be a thankless job, citing the many times Fink held contractors accountable for shoddy work repairing phone lines or sidewalks, even on a perpetually shrinking budget.”He didn’t work the ordinary 9-to-5; he lived and he breathed and he died by this job,” Phelan said.Richard Ford, a City Councilor for Ward 7, said Fink often personally responded to his requests to clean up a graffiti-painted wall or repair a broken park swing in his ward.”He’d be up at City Hall, and I’d give him lists of issues in my ward ? and he seemed to chip away and get things done,” Ford said.Ward councilors dealt with Fink almost on a daily basis, said Ward 5 Councilor Brendan Crighton.”Jay was always available to pick up the call,” he said.Fink counted the revamping of a portion of Western Avenue among his biggest accomplishments in Lynn. The three-year project repaved intersections on the road from Saugus to the Lynn fire station and created a landscaped garden that welcomed visitors into the city.”It’s certainly changed the impression of Lynn as you approach it coming from the Saugus direction,” he said.Fink said he also worked to make Lynn a safer city to drive and walk in. He’s said he’s particularly proud of a rotary his crews installed on Maple Street and Fernwood Avenue, which he said drastically limited accidents there.Fink came to Lynn from a public works job in Quincy when then-Mayor Edward “Chip” Clancy hired him.He said his outsider status allowed him to see the city with fresh eyes, which led to projects like putting up more street signs.”One of the things I found when I first got here, I didn’t know where I was going because there were so many street signs missing,” he said.The city’s mayor appoints, and the City Council approves, the DPW Commissioner position, according to the city’s charter.Mayor Judith Kennedy did not return repeated messages for comment.While Ford said he would like Kennedy to find someone already living in Lynn for the job, Phelan and Councilor at large Dan Cahill said hiring within is not as important as finding the best candidate for what they said is a critical position for the city.”I would like the term nationwide search to actually mean nationwide search,” Cahill said. “? As long as it’s the person that’s the most qualified individual that’s going to make this city a better place to live.”Ward 6 Councilor Pete Capano said he hopes the mayor finds someone sooner rather than later, because fixing Lynn’s public property is a tough job that won’t slow down for circumstances.”I don’t think it’s the type of job that should go vacant for very long,” he said.Amber Parcher can be reached at [email protected].