When Huntley got hit with straight-line winds in 2018, Dan Ruggles led the village’s cleanup efforts for more than a week.

“At any given time, we had eight to 10 other municipalities here ... to help us clean up,” Ruggles said.

The village’s streets superintendent has been doing this job for close to two decades. He’s coordinated everything from tapping a public works mutual aid network in an emergency to filling potholes to closing streets for community events.

Ruggles is the first person the police department calls when they need help cleaning up after a traffic crash, a water issue, a snowfall or getting dead animals off the roadway.

“Snow is the biggest,” Ruggles said, adding he finds it’s the hardest thing to prepare for. But when snow is in the forecast, he works with two other colleagues to determine staffing and material quantities for the roads.

He’s been “instrumental” in implementing a liquid program and handling salt operations in Huntley, Director of Public Works Tim Farrell said.

“Dan’s on top of that,” Farrell said.

While snow is Ruggles’ top priority in winter, his department also cleans and maintains trucks and tackles tree trimming.

But he said in early April, once the weather warms up, sidewalk repairs, followed by asphalt work and special projects, become the priority.

But some tasks are constant.

“We’re doing potholes year-round,” Ruggles said.

The department handles many after-hours community events like the Huntley Hootenanny, where Ruggles and his team close streets for security, set up detours and ensure safety for the runners and walkers in the 5K.

One of his most memorable projects was helping to install water mains and altitude vaults for the water towers, a crucial project as the village grew.

Despite the department handling many large projects, Ruggles said about 60% of his team’s tasks are work orders residents call in. Commonly, those are backyard sinkholes, potholes and concrete sidewalk repairs.

When Ruggles started, he said Huntley had around 3,500 residents. But close to three decades later, Ruggles leads a department responsible for 132 miles of streets and underground infrastructure such as water mains and storm sewers, for a community of close to 30,000 people.

Technology has changed, too. He now has access to GIS technology, and work orders, which were paper before, are now electronic.

And Ruggles himself has moved up the ranks, beginning in 1999 as a maintenance worker and getting promoted to a crew leader shortly afterward. Within about five years, he became streets superintendent, a job he has held for close to two decades.

Some things have stayed the same. He’s had the same snowplow route for at least the past 15 years.

Farrell said he’s been with the village for 12 years and came from the consulting world. He said he didn’t have a full background in public works operations, but Ruggles was helpful in getting him up to speed.

Farrell said Ruggles has “been a huge asset” to the village, adding that he is someone you can call on to complete a task and trust will get it done.

In March, Huntley officials learned that the Kreutzer Road widening project would be going out to bid in April. That meant trees had to be cleared by April 1 because of the long-eared bats that nest in the area.

“Timing was of the essence,” Farrell said.

While public works had the resources to handle most of the work in-house, Ruggles had a contact at a tree company who helped with the trees that were beyond the department’s knowledge, Farrell said.

“We’re up for any task,” Ruggles said.

His favorite part of the job is the variety.

“Every day is something different,” Ruggles said.