…from the Director

This past year, the Engineering Department saw a lot of changes in many areas.

We have a lot of new personnel and positions in our department. I am looking forward to seeing the growth of these individuals as they acquire more familiarity in their positions, increase their overall experience, and work towards progressing the entire Engineering Team. We have been praised on several occasions by various public officials, and it reminds me of all the challenges that our Department has overcome and all we were able to accomplish as a team.

We also have had many discussions about workloads and it appears that the department is going to be busy now and in the future While we have always claimed that “next year things will settle down” or “if we can just make it through this year, things are looking more manageable the following year,” the reality is that we are only getting busier. While we all have our normal workloads, projects and developments to inspect, permits to issue and escrows to manage, plans to review and projects to manage, last year brought several unexpected issues, including:

• On the Development side, we saw a significant rise in the number of plan reviews and excavation permits. Our City is seeing amazing growth, and we are seeing significant expansion to the southwest portion of the City border with several large developments

• Regarding Capital Projects, the new PD shooting range project materialized and now we are looking at security upgrades in the Council Chambers. We took on both the dumpster enclosure project and the ADA project at the Senior Center. We walked many roadways inspecting our ADA ramps. We also received an additional $2.9M for concrete repair, which adds to an already busy workload of annual improvement projects.

• There were new initiatives with both the Path of Heroes Program and the Signal Cabinet Art Program, which were brought to us as concepts and staff worked diligently to develop these programs. When I think back on these, all the research, reviews, meetings, etc., that goes into even these small ideas, it is remarkable to think of the time it takes to bring these forth, but they will have a lasting impact for the City You all deserve credit for making them happen, as a team effort.

Lastly, I have thought about the historic 1000-year flood event that occurred on July 26, 2022. I remember waking up in the middle of the night, as the rain was pouring down, and knew we were going to be in for some difficult times ahead. I couldn’t sleep and came in to work early to start firing off emails regarding the event. Over the next few days, it became more evident that our residents and community needed our help. We all stepped up to the challenge and responded We had meetings both internally and onsite, along with lots of home and subdivision inspections. Spreadsheets, tracking, helping, researching, more meetings and responding. We were there for our residents when they needed us in a time of crisis. That is the true definition of public service, and I am proud to have been a part of it.

I would encourage you all to take a second to reflect on the past year and realize what a remarkable group we have and how we stepped up, time and time again, to improve our City and meet the challenges for our residents, elected officials, businesses, friends and neighbors. Ultimately, I just can’t begin to thank you all enough, and I look forward to 2023 and seeing what challenges will come our way.