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Worked at Louisville Water since 1998
Working for the same company for most of, if not all of your career, isn’t nearly as common as it once was, but at Louisville Water, you’ll find a long list of employees with decades of service.
Plumber Leader Chris Meeks is among them. He will celebrate 27 years with Louisville Water and Local 1683 (our union) this month. Growing up with a father who also worked for Louisville Water, his interest sparked as a student at Butler High School.
“I took vocational training in high school; tool and dye making and machine shop,” Meeks shared. “I like mechanical-type work, meaning a lot of disassembly and assembly. You sometimes have to think outside the box in the field and fabricate things, making tools or making parts sometimes to make sure you get them back in service.”
The “them” Meeks is referring to is fire hydrants. Louisville Water’s fire hydrant maintenance program is where he’s spent the last 10+ years of his career.
“I like hydrants a lot and care about the program; (working to) keep everything maintained and serviced for the fire departments. We work closely with the departments. They text us, call us, text our supervisors, and they’ll give us lists of hydrants that need attention.”
It’s a job he’s passionate about and with more than 25,000 hydrants in our service area, it’s one that keeps him busy.
“Today, we just came from a hit hydrant. This (one) is a leak. Usually, Monday is a busy day because over the weekend, people have been hitting hydrants. We just prioritize everything. Anything out of service comes first,” he said.
Meeks’ work is a mix of preventive maintenance, repair tickets, and support for the fire departments.
“After a fire, we’ll usually go behind them (firefighters) and check the hydrant and make sure it’s still working properly. If a fire’s been going on for a while and the hydrant’s been running a long time, it’s kind of hard on them. Sometimes, they’ll start leaking,” he explained.
While you probably wouldn’t think of fire hydrants and horseracing in the same sentence, it’s a safe bet you’ll find Meeks around Churchill Downs in the months before the Kentucky Derby.
“Closer to the Derby, we’ll do what’s called a directional flush. We do that to ensure water flows freely out of the hydrant through the (water) main,” he said.
Meeks is part of the team that inspects all the fire hydrants surrounding the track. Additionally, he’s a big part of Louisville Water’s efforts to hydrate runners during the Kentucky Derby Festival mini/MARATHON and other large-scale races throughout the year.
“Setting ‘em up and taking ‘em down on the day of the race. I’ve been doing the race stuff since I was a helper (plumber leader’s assistant), pretty much. That’s when I was recruited to do that.”
When Meeks started at Louisville Water, he found a few familiar faces from Butler, and over time, he’s forged new relationships and charted his own path.
“It’s such a great place to work. You do feel like a sense of family. You get to know each other’s personal lives, especially when you work in the same truck with somebody for a lengthy period of time,” he said.
If you ask Meeks about his time at Louisville Water, he’ll quickly tell you that he can’t believe it’s already been 27 years. When he’s not working, he enjoys hanging out with his family and friends, playing disc golf, and going to concerts.
*October is National Fire Prevention Month. To report a leaking or broken hydrant, send a message to Louisville Water or call (502) 583-6610.
