On a recent cold Friday, David Bloom stood outside surrounded by some of the various trucks and equipment he used over the 48 years he worked for the city.

“We’re trying to check with the mayor. He is possibly either the longest-working city employee or one of the longest working,” Justin Amos said of Bloom. Amos is a storm water system foreman with the Seymour Water Pollution Control Facility.

Bloom recently announced his retirement from the department and received a plaque from Mayor Craig Luedeman recognizing his years of service.

Amos describes Bloom as “an easy-going guy that is always willing to do anything needed.”

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Bloom brought a level of experience to the department each day on the job that is hard to match, Amos said.

Bloom started working for the city in 1969 when he was 19.

He had been working at Seymour Electronics, but it shutdown for several months.

“I didn’t even know who the mayor was, but at one meeting, my dad just walked up to this suited man, who I later found out was the mayor, and asked if he had a job I could do,” Bloom said.

James L. Laupus, Seymour’s mayor at the time, told Bloom’s father there was one job available.

It was just the job for Bloom. It involved following a trash truck around and picking up trash.

Since then, Bloom has held numerous positions and done a variety of things for the city.

“He has done about everything,” Amos said.

At the time of retirement, Bloom worked as collections lead, meaning he was responsible for leading the collection teams on a daily basis.

“I usually just tell people I work a backhoe,” he said.

Digging sewer ditches with the construction equipment was one of his favorite tasks.

“I just like the outdoors,” Bloom said.

“If you need to know where anything in the city is underground, Bloom is the guy that knows where it’s at,” Amos said. “Dave always took pride in his job as it was his career.”

Bloom said “working with a pretty good bunch of guys” is one of the reasons he stayed with the city as long as he did.

Now that he is retired, Bloom said he plans to try to do a little fishing.

“And work on that ‘honey-do-that’ list,” he said, laughing.

While he is looking forward to the time off, there is one thing Bloom said he will miss.

“I’ll miss working. I think, yeah, I’ll probably end up missing working,” he said.

His co-workers will miss him, too.

“We are honored to have had the time we got with him and will miss working with him dearly,” Amos said.