St. Pete debuts innovative, symbolic sanitation campus

St. Petersburg officials did not just commemorate the opening of a state-of-the-art sanitation headquarters Friday – they also celebrated the spirit of unity it embodies.  

Current and former employees joined myriad city leaders to christen the $14.5 million Joseph E. Savage Sanitation Complex. The environmentally resilient facility’s name honors a local civil rights icon who helped lead the 1968 St. Pete Sanitation Strike. 

A towering sculpture, dubbed Oneness, greets visitors and 250 workers entering the new Benjamin F. Shirley Sr. Sanitation Building. Shirley, also a civic leader, finished his 48-year career with the department as director and launched the city’s first curbside recycling program in 2015. 

“It gives me great pleasure to share that this modern, solar-powered facility brings administrative and operational teams under one roof for better efficiency,” said Mayor Ken Welch. “Also, it’s the city’s first net-zero energy building – a high standard for environmental responsibility.” 

Solar panels provide shade over an outdoor gathering space on the facility’s second floor.

Officials also expect the facility to achieve LEED Gold Certification, a prestigious recognition for meeting strict sustainability standards. Roderick Voight, executive vice president of Kokolakis Contracting, said his company constructed the building to withstand a Category 4 hurricane. 

Kokolakis installed solar panels over the extensive parking and the facility’s roof. A generator system ensures it can serve as an emergency operations subcenter. 

“Having built many solid waste administration buildings in the past, I can confidently say the City of St. Petersburg raised the bar, recognized the importance of this department and provided one of the most beautifully designed, functional and efficient buildings I’ve ever seen,” Voight said. 

Welch noted the city cannot function without the sanitation team. Council Chair Copley Gerdes explained that their scope of work extends far beyond picking up garbage, a vital task. 

He said the department’s 250 employees “touch every single one” of St. Petersburg’s nearly 290,000 residents. They maintain and clear neglected and city-owned lots, negate graffiti, collect abandoned shopping carts and dead animals, control the city’s rodent population and pick up items that are too bulky or heavy to put with typical trash. 

The department is also “integral” to pre- and post-storm debris management. Sanitation employees maintain five city brush sites year-round. 

Gerdes said the council nearly interrupted the administration’s project presentation “because most of us were too eager to say yes.” He called it an investment in the people who “invest in us, the people who need their service.” 

“What this does is it gives those employees a place to gather, a place to eat together, to shower after a long day or before a long day, to work out and to have a place of refuge,” Gerdes added. “This is not just a building, it’s a home away from home. 

“And oh, by the way, we did it just how St. Pete does it – green energy, art and the remembrance of history.” 

The new building offers a gym and locker rooms with showers.

Willie Joseph, director of the sanitation department, noted the city previously split blue and white-collar workers between two 50-year-old buildings. The new facility will foster unity, access and “that family attitude.” 

Leadership encouraged feedback during the design process. Employees wanted fitness and locker rooms, a seemingly minor request that significantly boosts morale after a shift spent enduring less-than-ideal conditions. 

The city invited sanitation workers to submit names for the facility’s public art installation.  said Frank Lattimore’s entry “spoke the loudest.” 

Artist Donald Gialanella created Oneness as a powerful tribute to unity and resilience. Celeste Davis, director of arts, culture and tourism, said the stainless steel sculpture interprets the story of the 1968 Sanitation Strike. 

Joseph Savage and hundreds of employees protested for better working conditions and wages for 116 days. Their movement attracted the attention of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s brother, A.D. King, who visited the city to show his support. 

The strike stoked racial tensions during St. Petersburg’s Jim Crow era and jeopardized Savage’s life. The city council subsequently passed a law that allowed those workers to form a union. 

“How do we keep these stories of courage alive so they are not lost in the maze of current political climates or social media heights and downfalls,” Davis said. “One way is through art. We are fortunate that the City of St. Pete appreciates the ability of art to tell our shared stories.” 

Myriad local government and civic leaders attended the ceremony.