Meeting at Krug Event Center - City Services

Marjie Pettus, member and City Manager for the City of Healdsburg introduced speakers from the electrical department, public works, and city planning who spoke about the scope of their activities and their joy of working for the City of Healdsburg.

This is in keeping with the Rotary International theme for the month which focuses on Vocational Services.

 

Todd Woolman is a native of Healdsburg. He has worked for the city, in the electrical department for 26 years, starting when he was still in high school. He has worked his way up through an apprenticeship, journeyman, foreman and now is Superintendent of the electrical department. He oversees approximately 12 employees in his department which is responsible for providing electrical services to the city 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He is part of a public utilities District that includes all services save for natural gas and solid waste management. In his department, given its small size and wide-ranging scope of services required, most of his employees have to be able to be experts in several different areas of electrical management.

 

Ryan Kirchner had a varied experience prior to coming to Healdsburg several years ago. He has had a lifelong interest in water management, being introduced to the concepts by his father while they were living in Indiana. His main interest is wastewater management although he does have skills in numerous other aspects of water and other utility services including sewer, storm drainage, and flood control. He has worked in the National Park Service, in keeping with his love of preserving natural resources as well as working within municipal utility districts, notably in Roseville, Oregon.

 

He is proud that his staff is able to respond to emergencies day or night in an efficient and thorough manner. He reports that although the various departments function with a very lean staff of skilled employees, they are always looking for qualified and dedicated future employees and frequently present programs at the local high schools on the scope of their activities and the significance that they have in providing for a safe and efficient operating community.

 

Jess Brown has been in the planning department for a little over one year. He has a degree in city planning and has worked in Southern California prior to coming to this area. His department is responsible for planning current and “advanced” plans which can extend out 30-50 years. He is a firm believer in public involvement with decision-making regarding planning and makes every effort to have community involvement with meetings of the planning department. Current projects include the Healdsburg Meat Company, auto dealership remodeling, and a new project for the expansion of Big John's Market. In addition to buildings, this department is responsible for traffic planning and coordination of all the different aspects of city service.

 

The city has recently launched a website at which the public can learn of what is going on in the various departments and will be able to offer comments directly on the website regarding the planning process. Members are encouraged to visit Healdsburgcommunityvoice.com, which was just launched within the last 1-2 days.

 

At the conclusion of their presentation, a donation of $25 was made to the Sunrise Rotary Club of Healdsburg Foundation and each presenter was given a Rotary tote bag.