Public Works details Maintenance Services’ $23 million budget, high graffiti workload and plan to insource pothole repairs

Pedro Guillen, division head in the City of Santa Ana Public Works Maintenance Services, told the E‑Tech commission on April 14 that the division operates on a roughly $23 million operational budget and 44 full‑time positions with two current vacancies.

“This division is very proud to clean the city and maintain it,” Guillen said, describing nine major program areas that include graffiti abatement, median landscaping, street sweeping, code‑enforcement inspections and a quality‑of‑life team that responds to encampments and right‑of‑way cleanup.

Guillen said the division completes about 200,000 service requests annually — roughly 800 requests per working day — and receives about 15,000 telephone calls a year in addition to app reports through the city’s MySantaAna portal. On graffiti specifically, staff reported about 40,000 public‑initiated requests and 80,000 proactive removals, totaling an average of about 120,000 removal actions per year.

The presentation emphasized tree services: the city manages about 48,000 street trees across 229 species, maintains three certified arborists on staff and prunes roughly 17,000 trees each year. Guillen said the city has been a Tree City USA designee for 27 consecutive years.

On pavement and potholes, staff described routine, small repairs and said larger fixes are routed to the Capital Improvement Program. Guillen told commissioners the department plans to insource the pothole repair contract in the coming year to use city crews for potholes and related maintenance work.

Commissioners pressed staff on prioritization and specific neighborhood concerns. Commissioner Alvarado praised an example of a quick sign relocation and asked which problems the division would address first if it could focus on one issue; Guillen said priorities are driven by visibility and quality‑of‑life impacts, with illegal dumping and encampment cleanup as frequent focuses.

When asked about tree replacement choices, Guillen said the city follows a designated ‘‘street tree scape’’ master list and will not replace some large species where roots cause infrastructure damage. He added that in some locations the city may elect not to replace a removed tree because of utility or driveway conflicts.

Jason Gabriel, manager of the capital improvements group, told the commission that a planned Memory Lane project includes a bike lane and pavement rehabilitation that should address chronic root/pavement issues in that corridor, though tree health and root conditions will be assessed during design.

Guillen closed by urging residents to use the MySantaAna app to report service needs and said the division documents work with before‑and‑after photos to ensure completion. The presentation moved to the next agenda item after a short Q&A.

Ending: The commission received the informational presentation. No formal action was taken; staff answered questions and flagged the Memory Lane pavement and tree‑selection issues for follow‑up coordination with the capital improvements team.