Public Works directors in touch with utilities and infrastructure
Public Works directors in touch with utilities and infrastructure
Friday, 07 July 2006
Sam Roberts, PE, Cedar Park Public Works Director/Assistant City Manager
Sam Roberts takes his position in Cedar Park seriously. If he had to select one utility to give up, he could not do it. Roberts says that he works too hard with his staff to make sure everyone in Cedar Park has all the utilities they need and doesn’t even want to think about the possibility of giving one up.
That type of dedication is exactly why Roberts has been in the position of Public Works director since 1993 and assistant city manager since 2002.
He has spent the past 14 years ensuring that residents can depend on an infrastructure of services that make living in Cedar Park a wonderful experience.
- Q. What is the scope of the Public Works department?
- A. We administer the programs that build the utility and roadway infrastructure; review and inspect residential and commercial development projects; manage the water and wastewater treatment plants, lines and pumping stations; oversee meter services; provide fleet vehicle maintenance; and maintain city streets.
- Q. What impact would it have on the community if there were no Public Works department?
- A. Public Works helps build and maintain the infrastructure that allows residents to live, work and play in Cedar Park. Without them, folks wouldn’t be doing any of that.
- Q. What are some of the challenges facing the Public Works department within the next five to ten years?
- A. As Cedar Park continues to grow, our challenges will be to build new roadways to carry traffic as well as continue to expand the utility systems to provide water and electricity for our residents.
- Q. What is the biggest catastrophe the department has faced?
- A. The 1997 tornado. It lumbered through town, gobbling up homes and businesses on its way. Public Works had to work closely with police to secure utilities for neighborhoods that were hit.
- Q. What was your favorite subject in school? Why?
- A. Construction management, because I have always enjoyed being involved with building things.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Texas, Austin
- Family: Married 18 years, 11- and 9-year old sons
- Contact Information: 401-5368, roberts@ci.cedar-park.tx.us
Wayne Watts, PE, Leander Public Works Director/City Engineer
While it may take a village to raise a child, Wayne Watts, PE knows it takes Public Works to maintain a city. “You basically can’t go without a single aspect of what we do without it ultimately affecting something else,” he says. Even the most mundane aspect of the services the Public Works department provides can have a lasting effect on the quality of life for residents of Leander. “Take drainage, for example. You can basically survive without it, but eventually you will have ramifications,” he says. “If you eliminated drainage systems, water would naturally collect, but I can guarantee you that would make portions of the city unusable for periods of time. And that goes against what we’re all about. We’re here to provide our residents with a safe, quality environment to live, work and raise their families.”
- Q. What is the scope of the Public Works department?
- A. We construct and maintain facilities including water, wastewater, streets, drainage, and detention ponds. The engineering department falls under the auspices of Public Works, and this is where a large part of my duties lie. We also have the GIS Department, which provides all the mapping functions for the city. In addition, we administer best practices and ensure regulatory compliance. The department also negotiates and administers contracts for major infrastructure projects.
- Q. What impact would it have on the community if there were no Public Works department?
- A. In a word, it would be chaos. There would be no unified water/sewage/drainage/roadway system. You’d have a collage of private systems, which would probably prevent the creation of high density subdivisions.
- Q. What are some of the challenges facing the Public Works department within the next five to ten years?
- A. Providing water and sewer services at an affordable rate in one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Leander is projected to be home to 170,000 people in the next 20 years. We are currently adding 100 new homes a month, which equals about 3,600 people per year. We have to be able to accommodate this kind of development.
- Q. What is the biggest catastrophe the department has faced?
- A. The water shortage of the mid-1990s. When you go without water for days at a time, that’s a real problem.
- Q. What was your favorite subject in school? Why?
- A. Physics. I would probably enjoy it even more-so now with the introduction of relativistic and modern physics, and issues like string theory.
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in biological engineering, Mississippi State University
- Family: Married 20 years, 19-year-old son, 17- and 15-year-old daughters
- Contact Information: 528-2760, w.watts@ci.leander.tx.us
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