DPW Commissioner Jim McGonagle will soon depart City Hall for a cemetery.
Don’t worry. He’s not dying. He got a new job.
Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, who recently announced she would not run for another term, alerted the public in an email Thursday that McGonagle has accepted a job as general manager of the Holyhood Cemetery in Brookline, starting in early January.
Fuller said she has offered the commissioner role to Deputy Commissioner Shawna Sullivan.
McGonagle’s time as Newton DPW chief was marked by the city’s massive investments in infrastructure.
“His accomplishments are embedded in the streets we drive, the sidewalks we traverse, the village centers we enjoy, the water, sewer and stormwater systems we depend on, the weekly pickup of trash and recycling we all use, the yard waste collection that we take for granted, the snow that is plowed, and so much more,” Fuller wrote.
The city has had to meet the demands of population growth, development, new regulations and climate change in the past decade, and Fuller credits McGonagle for bringing Newton through it all.
In her message, Fuller recalled her second day as mayor in January 2018, when a big snowstorm was barreling toward the city, and she said that day allowed her to see McGonagle’s leadership in action.
“As we huddled in Newton’s Emergency Operations Center, I saw him working literally around the clock to prepare and deploy crews across Newton,” Fuller wrote. “I saw how incredibly knowledgeable he is as he kept one eye glued to our various weather and radar services watching for changes in storm patterns and new bands of snow heading our way. He worked so effectively with the DPW staff, and I saw how respected he is among his colleagues in the Newton Police and Fire Departments and the Parks, Recreation and Culture staff who work alongside DPW in emergencies.
“As those hours passed and as those days have turned into years working alongside Jim, I’ve seen him be a calm, strong and steady force for improvement within his department and across our City,” she continued. “He listens carefully. He acts responsibly. He cares. He has deep knowledge across a broad range of responsibilities.”