Today was my last day with the City.

I took a few pictures of the people who make the City great and thought I’d share them with you.

Me and our two CAD operators

Renie is on the left and Jackie is on the right. They have both been with the City for some time and are great at AutoCad. Renie and her two sisters are absolutely crazy. I’m not sure if they still do it, but they use to have Tequila Nights on Friday night.

Jackie is very active in her church and is heading to Africa in a few weeks on a missions trip. She is a breast cancer survivor (double mastectomy) of about 4 years.

Me and our head inspector

That’s good ol’ Donnie. He’s the head of our construction inspection section. He manages 4 inspectors and I think the current number of active projects around town is 34. They stay busy. Donnie was born and raised in Lee County, the county just north of us and has been with the City for over 20 years. He loves his grandbabies and fishing. It is a little known story, but Donnie is part of the reason I came to work for the City.

I was in the private sector designing a project for the City and one day on the job site, this big guy comes up and says, “Mike, how’s it going? Come here, I want to talk to you.” I had no idea who he was. When that happens to me, it really throws me (see here). He talked up the job and really encouraged me to apply.

Me and the Director of Engineering

Good old Bob. Bob started with the City in 1972 as the City’s Traffic Engineer. In one staff meeting, I asked him when he started with the City and he said 1972, to which I replied, “Damn, that was the year before I was born!” Needless to say, he wasn’t very thrilled.

Bob is a survivor. He’s survived at least 5 City Managers and untold numbers of City Commissioners and Mayors. Not only is he a survivor, he’s also a very astute political animal. We all thought Bob’s number was up two years ago, but somehow, he dug himself out of the hole and now the City Manager loves him.

Bobs secret is his management style. Oh sure, there are many things I think he could do better and many things I don’t agree with, but the one thing he does is surround himself with people that make him look good. In the end, he does very little of what you would call real work. Yet, he keeps the department running and stays in good with the Commission and the City Manager. It all comes down to who he hires.

He also is into real estate. He started when he was 40 and now has over 100 rental units scattered around town. He has a few condos along the Gulf and is set up to have a very nice retirement.

Survivor, Political Animal, Real estate Barron…. That’s Bob.

Me and my boss

Rod is my friend.

Sure he was my boss, but in many ways we were a team. It’s amazing how well we complimented each other. He’s been practicing engineering for over 40 years and has seen everything under the sun. The amount of experience and knowledge that he carries around in his head is staggering.

He is my mentor. I have grown so much as an engineer over these past 3 years and that is because of Rod.

He can be ruff and gruff and has some edges that definitely need softening, but on the inside he’s a giant teddy bear. If you did something wrong, or he was upset with you, he would chew you out, but when he was finished, he would look up and say, “Let’s get some lunch.”

I’m going to miss him most over all. If we had the workload that could support him, I would insist that my new company hire him. He is a production machine and can turn out good designs left and right.

Yeah, I’m going to miss him.

He and I started Hawaiian Friday’s. As evidenced by his shirt in the above picture. I wore my Hawaiian shirts all week because I had to turn in my uniform so I did not have one to wear today. But if you saw us on Friday, even if we had a meeting with City Manager, we would be in our Hawaiian shirts.

He is from Poulan, which is about 30 miles to the east of here. His mom worked in the cotton mill and his dad was a plumber. He left for Atlanta in the early 60’s to go to Southern Tech and only has a two-year degree, but he is a Professional Surveyor and has had one heck of a career.

In the end, I almost cried today. I’m very sentimental and would almost cry every time we moved from an apartment when we were first married. As my new boss said, it’s kind of sad, after all a chapter in my life is closing, but a new one is beginning. My three years with the City have added yet another part to what makes me, me.

*sigh*

I can’t wait to start my new job Monday.