Westford Highway Superintendent To Retire After 44 Years

WESTFORD, MA — Westford is said to have some of the best roads: In the winter, they are among the first to be plowed, during storms they are cleared quickly of tree debris, and after storms potholes are taken care of quickly, as any select board member will tell you.

That's because of Westford Highway Superintendent Richard “Chip” Barrett. But now, after 44 years with the town, Barrett is set to retire March 31.

"It's been with mixed emotions," Barrett told the Select Board Tuesday after they sang his praises and wished him well in retirement. "It's been my humble pleasure to serve the people of the town of Westford."

The board honored him for his four decades of service that spanned his work in the town beginning as a call firefighter in 1977 to his work as an intermittent police officer in the '80s and '90s and water commissioner to the day he was hired as highway superintendent in 1991.

Back then, he was responsible for 75 miles of roadway in town. Today the roadway has more than doubled, and his responsibilities have grown to include watching four dams, 11 bridges and some 5,000 sewer catchment basins.

It doesn't stop there. Since 2009, he's been the town's tree warden and lends a helping hand wherever he can: He's helped open the community gardens, coordinate brush removal, the Friends of the East Boston Camp, and with upkeep on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.

All with a smile.

Water Superintendent Steve Cronin who has worked alongside Barrett for the past decade said it was obvious that Barrett took pride in his work, and loved it.

"It doesn't matter how many inches of snow have fallen, and how many trees have blown down."
Cronin said, "You always work until the end of the storm, and you have always stayed until your staff was out of harm's way, and on their way home. You've given more nights, weekends and holidays than anyone will ever know, but it hasn't gone unnoticed."

Among his accolades, the American Public Works Association honored Barrett with the professional manager of the year award in 2017.

"As you leave your job as highway superintendent," Town Manager Jodi Ross said, "You are leaving very big shoes to fill."