When Rick Bacon was growing up, his obsession was finding out what made things work the way they do.
“I would take stuff apart and put it back together and hope it worked,” he recalls with a laugh. “If it didn’t work, then I would figure out what was wrong with it and take it apart again.”
It is with that same curiosity that Bacon has overseen an unprecedented era of municipal infrastructure renewal as the City of Flin Flon’s director of works and operations.
Now, after a dozen years with the city, Bacon is ready for a new chapter. He is stepping down in February to accept a position in Alberta.
“The challenges are going to be quite different,” says Bacon, who will take over as director of municipal services for Lethbridge County, southeast of Calgary.
But Bacon’s level-headed dedication is certain to remain the same.
Like so many Flin Flonners before him, Bacon, now 41, came to the community for what was intended to be a brief stint.
Working as a field engineer for PCL Construction out of Winnipeg, he pulled into Flin Flon in October 1999 to oversee early shaft development at 777 mine.
The job was supposed to last six weeks, but Bacon remained in Flin Flon for other PCL projects at HBM&S, now Hudbay.
When that work dried up, PCL sent him to Opaskwayak Cree Nation as field engineer for initial construction on the Aseneskak Casino.
By now Flin Flon had grown on Bacon. If the right opportunity arose, he and his future wife were inclined to stay in the community.
The same day Bacon resigned from PCL – he and the company had different ideas about their future together – he saw two tempting jobs advertised in The Reminder.
One was for public works superintendent for the Northern Village of Denare Beach; the other for assistant director of works and operations for the City of Flin Flon.
Bacon, who studied civil engineering technology with a municipal discipline at Winnipeg’s Red River College, applied for both jobs. Flin Flon hired him.
With bylaw enforcement among his duties, he quickly made a visible impact. In his first three months, he sent out 50 notices ordering residents to remove unsightly derelict vehicles from their properties. He also tore down 10 derelict buildings in his first year.
“There was a big push on getting things cleaned up at the time,” Bacon says.
In 2004, two years after Bacon joined the city, his boss, Kevin Komarnicki, quit. In his place, Bacon was named interim director of works and operations – with the “interim” tag soon dropped.
Since then, Bacon has helped focus city efforts on infrastructure rejuvenation.
Under his direction (and provincial mandates), the city has completed its two largest infrastructure projects ever in the sewage treatment plant and the water treatment plant.
Major pipe-replacement work has progressed, including on Main Street and the mid section of Green Street. Just as crucially, Flin Flon installed new feeder lines from Cliff Lake, the source of its drinking water.
The feeder line project of 2009 was a particular triumph. Since most of the work was funded by the provincial government, the construction industry anticipated that a private company would secure the tender.
That expectation was based on past precedent and the fact that municipal projects represent a major revenue source for construction firms.
But after Bacon saw the design for the project, he pitched an unusual idea: have the City of Flin Flon itself bid on the tender to cut out the profit motive and save taxpayers money.
City council seconded the motion, and the province, despite opposition from the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, okayed Flin Flon’s proposal.
With the lowest bid, the city got the tender and finished the five kilometres of piping on time and on its $4-million budget. Bacon estimates this saved the public purse about $1 million.
The project will stand as one of a kind. In the aftermath, Bacon says, the province barred municipalities from bidding on provincially supported projects worth more than $100,000.
As proud as he is of such accomplishments, Bacon is not naïve to the fact that public criticism is part and parcel of working for the city. That goes for himself and his crew.
“A lot of municipal employees [have] a bad rap in every city you go to,” he says. “[People say], ‘Those damn city workers are always leaning on the shovel.’ [But] for every guy that’s on that job, there’s a reason for him to be there, whether it’s relief for somebody who’s doing a job that has to be switched off, whether he’s an equipment operator that is required to be there, or a truck driver. They all have their spot on the job.”
Bacon himself has faced the wrath of some residents as he has carried out municipal orders, be it cutting off water to a home that no longer has electricity to keep the pipes from freezing, or forcing homeowners to clear junk out of their yards.
“I’ve been physically threatened,” says Bacon matter-of-factly. “I’ve been told that I’m going to be attacked with a two-by-four. I’ve been told they’re going to blow my head off. I get called names and stuff like that.
“I think that there’s a lot of people who take what I have to do as part of my job personally, and…I don’t ever look at it that way. I don’t hold grudges against anybody.”
Such is the unflappable nature of Bacon, who was born outside Montreal and raised in the Maritimes and Winnipeg.
Though he has spent much of his life in big cities, Bacon has had no trouble adjusting to the small-town ambience of Flin Flon. He has become quite involved in the community, coaching youth sports and playing recreational slo-pitch and hockey.
On his own time, and in partnership with local contractors, Bacon also played a pivotal role in the development and construction of Pioneer Square on Main Street and the Flin Flon Skatepark near Hapnot Collegiate.
“My wife will tell you, the days that I come home smiling, she knows that I’ve been building something out in the field,” he says.
At one time Bacon thought he would retire in Flin Flon, but he is now ready for fresh experiences. He also wants his 10-year-old son to have educational and hockey-related opportunities he can’t get in Flin Flon.
As he prepares for a new life out west, Bacon is reflective about his time in Flin Flon. He says he will miss the good people, coworkers, poker buddies and the many young athletes he has coached.
Once he is settled in Lethbridge County, don’t be surprised if Bacon continues to keep close tabs on works and operations developments back in Flin Flon.
As much work as Bacon has undertaken over the years, he’s the first to admit there’s still a lot to be done.
