Neighbor Spotlight: Plum’s buildings and grounds supervisor Joe Fischetti enjoys making borough look good
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Editor’s note: Neighbor Spotlight is a monthly feature that aims to let our readers learn more about the people in their communities who are working to make them a better place, who have interesting stories to tell or who the community feels deserve “15 minutes of fame.” If you would like to nominate someone as a Neighbor Spotlight, visit plumadvanceleader.com, select the “Post Story” button in the upper right corner, click the “New Article” button and complete the form to publish your nomination. Questions? Email Neighborhood News Network editor Katie Green at kgreen@triblive.com.
Joe Fischetti is nearing a milestone this month as Plum’s buildings and grounds supervisor.
May 22 marks his eighth year as one of the borough’s top administrators.
“I enjoy everything that I do,” he said. “Not only the people that I work with in-house, but the people that I work with in each organization in the community. When you do all the functions that we do and all the events, you meet a lot of people. It’s enjoyable.”
Fischetti oversees the borough’s six parks and leads a group of eight workers in April through December and a dozen laborers through late winter.
He also helps maintain the borough building, community center, other facilities and Plum’s vehicle fleet.
“My thing is to go day by day, put my work in the best that I can,” Fischetti said. “You’ve got to be open-minded and willing to learn.”
Crews prepare for all borough activities such as Movies in the Park at Larry Mills to Summer Fest, Christmas at Plum Creek and everything in between.
The events are mostly organized by borough manager Michael Thomas and Mona Costanza, assistant to the borough manager. Fischetti and his team make sure those two have the layout they want.
“At first, it was a little tough with the setup,” Fischetti said about event preparation. “Now, we’ve been doing these events. Getting them ready isn’t as bad as it used to be. The end result of seeing people from the community enjoying what the borough is offering them, that’s what it’s about.”
Early life
Fischetti, 50, grew up an only child in Pittsburgh’s Morningside neighborhood. He and his mother, Donna Fischetti, traveled a bit with the young man attending several schools including Central Catholic, a Lutheran school in Sharpsburg and eventually graduating from Peabody High School in 1989.
When not engaged in academics or sports, he often would go hunting and fishing with his stepfather, Ed Corry, in Franklin, Pa.
“I loved it there,” Fischetti said. “I lived right across the street where the Allegheny River and French Creek met. He tried to take me out as much as he could, but he had a bad heart so it was hard sometimes. He’s been dead for 24 years. It’s so hard to remember back, but I can remember the kind of person that he was. He was a good-hearted person. He always took care of me and my mom. My grandmother lived with us for the majority of the time that I lived at home. He was a good guy.”
Fischetti said he never knew his biological father, and Corry came into his life around age 6.
Professional life
Fischetti said his first job out of high school was as a messenger for the Allegheny County parks and recreation department and director Joe Natoli.
After a few years, he would trade one Joe for another, working as a county maintenance man for Joe Moses in the public works department. Fischetti became a foreman and member of Moses’ Delta Team, a volunteer search-and-rescue unit made up of maintenance employees formed in 1977 and dismantled in 1995 after its founder got into legal trouble.
Fischetti had a search-and-rescue dog named Luger, a Belgian shepherd.
“We worked on floods in Sharpsburg, oil spills in the rivers, search and rescues in different areas like West Virginia,” he said. “When other communities needed help, we were ready to go. It was fun. I enjoyed working with Luger. He was a smart dog.”
Fischetti left county work to sell cars and learn how to crunch numbers. He moved vehicles for Biondi Lincoln and then Biondi Mitsubishi in Monroeville in the late 1990s.
Fischetti later studied accounting and finance at Seton Hill University
He also worked as a finance director for Tri-Star Ford and ran a bookkeeping business for seven years, called Fischetti & Associates, before being hired by the borough.
“I needed to have something a little more secure,” Fischetti said about why he closed his own shop. “I’m outside. I’m working with the community. I couldn’t have made a better choice than to do what I did and come work for Plum.”
Athletic life
Fischetti said he has been a runner since his late teens and stays in shape by training at a local fitness facility. He declined to name the place.
An event around Thanksgiving 2002 would push him even further in athletic pursuits. He saw the Ironman Triathlon broadcast from Panama City, Fla.
It features a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run, in that order. Fischetti joined the contestants in 2004.
“I was just happy to finish,” he said. “I did probably six marathons and half Iromans. That was my first and only full Ironman. I was 26 years old. I woke up one morning and said, ‘I’m going to be 30 in four years. I need to start running again.’
“That was the start of it. Every race is exciting. You train for those races. You train to work hard. You train to do the best that you can. I’ve come top 10, top five in a couple different races in my age groups, but I’ve never won.”
Fischetti said he plans to participate in SavageMan Triathlon, a half Ironman in Deep Creek, Md., in September.
He said when he’s not working or training, he enjoys spending time with his family.