Public Works mechanics keep the engines humming

Mechanics made a good team in South Fayette

Cardillo and Saunoras keep the engines humming for Public Works

By Rick Fry

A well-worn but reliable Allis-Chalmers road grader from the 1970s sits outside the South Fayette Township Public Works garage along Millers Run Road.

Inside the storage bays, dump trucks stand near a gaggle of plows that will be installed at the first mention of snow.

Mechanic Matt Saunoras replaces the front brakes of a dump truck in the Public Works garage.

Photos by Rick Fry

A White GMC road oil distributor truck sits in the line, along with an impressive array of other machines, large and small.

All in all, the fleet that needs to be maintained and repaired is substantial: roughly 100 trucks, vehicles, police cars and pieces of equipment. There are high lifts, skid steers, backhoes. Trailers, mowers, tractors. String trimmers, chainsaws, leaf blowers.

Two mechanics keep the engines humming and the wheels turning in the entire fleet of township vehicles and equipment—Mike Cardillo and Matt Saunoras.

One morning in late September, Saunoras worked to replace the front brakes of a small dump truck on a lift.

While the shop is well equipped with all the major tools needed complete jobs quickly and safely, Saunoras said he prefers to use his own tools.

Saunoras uses many of his personal tools, kept in a large toolbox.

Photos by Rick Fry

“I wouldn’t know what to do without them,” Saunoras said. “For me, it’s necessary to be able to do my job to have my own stuff I'm familiar with.”

His toolbox is a gleaming wall of black steel. Actually, to call it a toolbox is an injustice. It’s large enough to be a small apartment in New York City.

Saunoras has been a professional mechanic his entire adult life. A South Fayette native, he went into automobile mechanics after he graduated high school.

As a foundation in the trade, he attended a Ford-sponsored community college program, so he held most of the motor company’s certified-technician credentials by the time he hit the job market.

Public Works Director Dan Dernosek, pictured in the garage break room in September, said his mechanics keep modern and traditional equipment running. "They make a good team," he said. “I rely on them greatly to fix all the equipment. Nobody else would be able to do their jobs if we had nothing running.”

Saunoras started working for a local Ford garage and put in 10 years, all the while continuing Ford training programs. He worked on police cars, fire trucks, ambulances and plow trucks, solidifying skills that ultimately made him a great fit for the Public Works Department.

“I kind of did it all already,” Saunoras said. “A lot of it is the same. It’s all nuts and bolts.”

South Fayette Township hired Saunoras in 2017. Today, he inspects about 70 vehicles, and he maintains and repairs dozens of Fords, from pickups to dump trucks to Police Interceptors.

Mike Cardillo leans into the engine bay of a high lift.

He stays current on the latest diagnostic tools and automotive technology to repair modern machines.

While Saunoras worked in the shop, Cardillo, the senior mechanic, labored off-site to repair a high lift that had broken down along Cecil Sturgeon Road.

His service truck close at hand, Cardillo examined the rusty workhorse and tested the fuel injection system. He used a light crane mounted on his truck to hold up the engine cover so he could work unobstructed in the engine bay.

Public Works mechanic Mike Cardillo pauses during his repair of a high lift along Cecil Sturgeon Road in September.

Cardillo was in his element sitting on the big-wheeled machine’s tire, out in a field where he enjoyed the quiet while he worked.

A South Fayette native, Cardillo had started working on equipment while growing up on a farm.

“When you’re out on a tractor and it broke down in the field, you didn’t call nobody, you fixed it,” Cardillo said.

While his specialty is heavy truck and equipment repair, Cardillo also is an accomplished welder and fabricator.

Beyond the farm, Cardillo’s shop classes at South Fayette High School prepared him for his career as a mechanic, and he lamented diminishing machine shop and welding programs.

Cardillo got his first job in small engine repair straight out of high school and quickly impressed the shop owner with his knowledge.

A township mechanic for 25 years now, Cardillo is very familiar with the older equipment and appreciates their basic, no-frill designs.

He said the traditional equipment is tough and reliable, and “the old stuff works just fine when properly taken care of.”

Mike Cardillo works under the hood of Public Works equipment.

Together, Cardillo and Saunoras keep both traditional and modern equipment running, Public Works Director Dan Dernosek said.

“They make a good team,” he said. “I rely on them greatly to fix all the equipment. Nobody else would be able to do their jobs if we had nothing running.”

Rick Fry is a freelance writer.