Under the direction of the mayor or other chief executive officer of a municipal corporation, the street commissioner, or an engineer, when one is provided by the legislative authority, shall supervise the improvement and repair of streets, avenues, alleys, lands, lanes, squares, wards, landings, market houses, bridges, viaducts, sidewalks, sewers, drains, ditches, culverts, ship channels, streams, and watercourses. Such commissioner or engineer shall also supervise the lighting, sprinkling, and cleaning of all public places, and shall perform such other duties, consistent with the nature of his office, as the mayor or other chief executive officer requires.