Sanit Promotes DiRico To Support Services Deputy Commissioner

ROCCO DiRICO: 30-year vet steps up. Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty has promoted Rocco DiRico, a 30-year veteran of the department, to Deputy Commissioner for the Bureau of Support Services, which encompasses both the department's fleet and facility management and maintenance operations.

Mr. DiRico heads the Bureau of Motor Equipment, which handles the development, purchase, maintenance, repair, and final relinquishment of the approximately 6,000 vehicles in the department's fleet. He also oversees the Bureau of Building Management, whose responsibilities include routine maintenance and emergency repairs required at 200-plus department buildings, repair facilities, and garages, including the Central Repair Shop in Woodside, Queens, a building as long as the Empire State Building is tall.

In this new capacity, Mr. DiRico will represent the department on a number of environmental initiatives, including Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC program relating to both transportation and facility energy reduction projects.

Commissioner Doherty said, "Rocky DiRico, through his years of exemplary service to the department, has earned his new position of Deputy Commissioner. Rocky has a tremendous knowledge of the department's vast fleet and over 200 buildings citywide, which is our backbone and essential to our operations."

Mr. DiRico joined the Department of Sanitation in 1979 as an auto mechanic. He is a graduate of Thomas Edison Career and Technical Education High School, and earned his associate's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queensborough Community College. He also is a graduate of the Senior Executive Program at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. T.H.