Why a career in Public Works?

“I was very fortunate to have stumbled upon that job in many respects, because I wasn’t necessarily looking for a job directly in public works. It was available and I was able to seize the opportunity. I worked there for two years, and then I became the village engineer, director of public works, building and zoning commissioner, and health officer of the village of Lindenhurst in Illinois. I left, Lindenhurst in 1989 to become the director of public works for the village of Barrington.”-john Heinz, Director of Public Works, Village of Barrington, IL 

“I returned home because my father became seriously ill and I moved back to help my mother. If was at that time that I began my employment with the city of Winston-Salem as a civil engineer in the property maintenance division. In 1980 I moved to the utilities division as a Senior Civil Engineer. My duties included project management for a fifty-million-dollar wastewater treatment plant, seven-million dollar pump station, there-million dollar water and wart water plant upgrade and the construction of a two-million dollar regional land and maintenance facility.”-Malcolm Lewis, Utility Safety Engineer, Winston-Salem, NC     

“For the past thirty-four years live had the pleasure of working in the public sector serving the cities of San Jose and Los Angeles. During my tenure in the two cities I was a member of several departments including Public Works, of course, but also aviation, parks and recreation, streets and traffic and lastly the departments of transportation. I have been a department head for the past thirteen years.”-Wayne Tanda, GM, Department of Transportation, Los Angeles, CA

“While I was taking a break from studying for my final high school exams, my father approached me about summer employment. He suggested that I apply for a job with the city of Regina. Because of my respect for my dad’s good judgment, I did not hesitate to make an application. I was successful in ginning employment with the city of Regina, which we had planned to be an intern job to help finance my first year of university. Fortunately, because of my father’s suggestion, live found steady employment with the city of Regina Public works Department which I have since never regretted.”-Tim Haynes, Roadways Technical Coordinator, City of Ragina, Saskatchewan.

“Actually, I started with the city as a policy analyst working for then-mayor William Green. My intentions were to leave civic service and move on to a management consulting firm, as my background is in organizational management, along with some background in accounting. But I forum that once I got into civic service I actually loved it, and live never found work that has been quite as challenging or rewarding. So I’m still here, 21 years later’- Clarena Tolson, Department of streets, Philadelphia, PA

“I came to public works from the Minnesota pollution control agency where I was in the solid waste division. There was a position open in the St.Paul Public Works Department to oversee an EPA grant to plan for a resource recovery facility here. So I took that job in 1980 which got me started in the solid waste and recycling field, and live been with the Public Works Department for twenty-five years.” -Richard Person, Program Administrator, St.Paul, MN