The Adams Street Branch of the Boston Public Library is on the agenda, Patricia Lyons said. Standing in front of the rusted library sign, she said her department will be conducting a comprehensive study of the facilities before bringing in a designer. That process could take 6 to 8 months, Lyons said. The building needs some attention, but “it’s exciting to get to work on something in your own neighborhood,” she added. Jennifer Smith photo
Boston City Hall is an icon, seen favorably by some for its style, and unfavorably by many as an eyesore out of the last century’s Brutalist architectural movement.

To Patricia Lyons, the building is all about her new job as the director of the city’s Public Facilities Department. One of her goals, she said, is to find a way to make the gray structure and its surrounding plaza “more welcoming. We’re approaching it as though nothing is really sacrosanct,” said the 51-year-old longtime Dorchester resident. “The focus is to make sure it’s a building that really serves the citizens going forward.”

After studying finance at Providence College, and earning a master’s in business administration from UMass Boston, Lyons, a native of Plymouth, assumed she would end up with a job in the financial sector. But today, with 29 years of public service in the city of Boston behind her, she has found a role that fits, one that echoes both the legacy of civically minded family members and a desire to see tangible change.

Right after college, Lyons jumped into work as a financial representative. “I never gave it much thought,” she said in an interview with the Reporter on Tuesday. “But thinking about how unfulfilled I was in a career motivated by personal gain, which all felt so hollow, I was looking for something deeper.”

That “something” was public service, almost a family trait. Her father was the facilities director for the old Boston City Hospital, now Boston Medical Center. Her brother worked in the very department she now oversees, public facilities, for a long stretch. “My family has a strong love of public service,” said Lyons, whose wife, Dottie, works for the Parks Department.

Lyons, who reports to the city’s chief of operations, Patrick Brophy, heads up series of administration initiatives like the City Hall study. The department oversees design and construction on municipal facilities such as libraries, community centers, and fire and police stations.

“We tend to work with renovating existing facilities or improving existing infrastructure,” Lyons said, adding, “We try to be very sensitive to the surrounding community.”

In her decades working for the city, she has filled a series of senior management roles in the facilities department. She was named deputy director in November, then acting commissioner in January, before her announcement as director in late September.

“Tricia brings years of experience to this position,” said Mayor Walsh. “She is passionate about bettering municipal facilities throughout the city, and committed to creating a friendly, interactive atmosphere.”

The mayor’s ten-year Educational and Facilities Master Plan and his five-year capital plan are “aggressive” pushes with “long-term implications,” Lyons said, focused on upgrading school facilities to meet evolving needs in infrastructure and technologies. “It’s situational, too,” she said, “because you want to bring facilities into the 21st century and look forward for the community.” But in Boston, she added, “there’s a component of paying homage to the past.”

On the Dorchester front, she referenced two projects just getting under way: Schoolyard upgrades at the Martin Luther King, Jr. K-8 school and accessibility improvements to the Strand Theatre.

Lyons has lived in civically minded Dorchester for 25 years, with a move from Savin Hill to Adams Village. “We sort of embrace that the community is typically very involved in what happens in their neighborhoods,” she said. “And that’s actually a very welcome thing.”