The Prodigal Returns

I

n the last six years, Ajax has added many new faces and I look forward to meeting you

all. For the old hands, let me say, it’s great to be back. I left the comfortable confines of Ajax Paving six years ago to move closer to family in Tennessee. While there were some positives personally, I must say that professionally I was never comfortable in the work environment in my home state. As a matter of fact, I felt like a fish out of water.

After some discussion with my family and a few calls to Ajax, I was more than happy to return to my old Tampa stomping grounds. Coming back through the door of the Tampa office felt like coming home. Most of my coworkers were the same ones I had worked with when I cut my teeth at Ajax back in the early 2000’s. Scott and Brian Pittman, Tom Daquanna, Trish Moore, Barbara Hill, Ed Street and, of course, my fellow Project Manager Roger Owens. Driving out to the jobs, there were also many familiar faces. It seemed natural to pull up on the job and see Paving Foreman Joe White leading the morning huddle. I don’t think Ike Gant has changed a bit. He has operated a paver and helped train Ajax foremen since long before I even knew what asphalt was, so it was no surprise when I saw Ike working with an old face in a new position. Jacob Gouveia had risen up through the ranks to be foreman of his own crew. Those examples are the rule and not the exception here. Employee retention and the number of people who leave and then return is a real testament to what a great place this is to work! Due to that familiarity, there was really no adjustment period when I returned. My first few jobs have been part of the Resurfacing Program with Hillsborough County. We have several Work Order projects currently going with them. The largest we are on now is the Baycrest Subdivision. It is about 10,000 tons of paving, 118,000 SY of milling along with concrete curb repairs and bringing curb ramps into ADA compliance. Jerry McCormick, one of our young superintendents, is coordinating our field work. Right now he is working closely with Concrete Superintendent Spencer Wadsworth to keep the concrete crews on track so we can start paving. We are almost complete in the first section of the community and the residents have been pleasantly surprised by the lack of disruption and how easily traffic has flowed through our work zones. Jerry has done a great job setting up detours when a closure is required to repair badly deteriorated valley gutter crossings.

I can’t say enough about the housekeeping on this job. Paul Robinson, Fredy Garay and John Lake have kept everything nice and tidy. Thanks to all the guys working at Baycrest and thanks to all my Ajax family for welcoming me back home. Removing a curb ramp for replacement

Completed curb ramp

A closed intersection waiting on concrete