PRINT ADS

West Salem Public Works Director Wade Peterson has resigned after 11 years with the village.

Peterson, hired April 1, 1997, was West Salem’s first public works director. He submitted his letter of resignation April 23, and the resignation was announced at a finance and personnel committee meeting last week.

Peterson, whose last day will be Friday, said he felt he needed a career change, and he has taken a job as building and grounds supervisor with the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs. He will work at Camp Williams at Volk Field in Camp Douglas.

“I just think it was a time in my life where I was looking for a change,” said Peterson, 43.

“It’s all been a joy. I got to work with a lot of great residents of the village. It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make.”

Village Administrator Teresa Schnitzler said a search for a new public works director will begin immediately, although she said it could take three to four months to find a replacement. In the meantime, she said village utilities will be managed by the remaining six public works employees.

“We have a very responsible and talented public works department,” Schnitzler said. “They each know what needs to be done. There’s going to be the day-to-day administration, and that will be part and parceled out.”

When the village hired Peterson, he took over the everyday oversight of the village’s pubic works department that previously had been handled by foremen and the administrator. In addition to utilities and maintenance of village buildings, Peterson oversaw care of parkland, streets and snow removal.

Peterson, a 1983 Osseo-Fairchild High School graduate, said he had been looking for a directors job while working at Cadott’s water and wastewater system.

“It took me a long time to find this job because we liked this area and wanted to stay,” said Peterson, who lives with his wife and two kids just outside West Salem near Mindoro.

During his tenure, Peterson has seen many changes to the village, from developments to numerous street projects.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of changes and a lot of improvements,” he said.

Looking back, Peterson said one of his greatest accomplishments with the village was helping establish standards for developers’ agreements in the late 1990s, which created language for items such as infrastructure and parkland dedication. He said other highlights during his tenure include the installation of an iron filtration system in 1998 and the completion of the village’s new wastewater treatment facility in 1999.

Peterson said he has enjoyed the diversity of his job as well as those he has worked with over the years. He noted, though, there will be some job aspects he’s happy to leave behind.

“Some of the things I look forward to is not waking up at midnight, 2 and 4 in the morning to see how much snow has fallen so I can decide when to get the plows out there,” he said.

Schnitzler said Peterson will be missed.

“Wade has done a tremendous amount for the village in the 11 years he’s been here,” she said. “His work and his influence is going to be greatly missed.”

Village President Dennis Manthei agreed.

“He will definitely be missed,” Manthei said. “Wade’s been the glue that has held a lot of things together. He has a lot of information, and we have to find a way to download some of that information.”

Peterson also functioned as village hall’s information technology person with his knowledge of computers and electronics. Police Chief Charles Ashbeck will likely fill that role now.

Peterson’s new job, which he accepted April 22, will charge him with supervising Army buildings and grounds for Camp Williams and those in Wisconsin Rapids, Mauston and Reedsburg.

Peterson, a master sergeant with the 115th Civil Engineer Squadron of the Wisconsin Air National Guard, has 24 years of military service, including eight years after high school with the United States Air Force. He has served in Operation Just Cause in 1989 — a U.S.-led invasion of Panama that disposed military leader Manuel Noriega — and he served in Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom August 2004 through December 2004. He was presented the Wisconsin Emergency Service Ribbon for his role in Operation Summer Storm III, a clean-up effort after area floods last August.

For his work in public works, Peterson also was given the Operator of the Year award in 2004 from the Wisconsin Rural Water Association.

Peterson said he will retire from the Air National Guard in October. Although he won’t be working in West Salem anymore, he said he will still remain active in the community. He said he might consider entering the political arena in the future, possibly running for the Hamilton Town Board or the West Salem School Board, where he served from 2001-04.

“There’ll still be a lot of things I’ll be in, and I’ll keep in touch with the people I’ve met; I still live here,” Peterson said.

Twining retirement

Peterson’s resignation comes at the same time that longtime public works employee Jack Twining has announced his retirement.

Twining, 62, marked 26 years with the village on April 21. He is the village’s water utility superintendent and was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement award from the WRWA.

His last day will be May 21.

“With Jack’s retirement, we lose a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience, and that’s hard to replace,” Schnitzler said. “I wish him a happy retirement.”

When Twining retires, he will have been the second-longest employed person in the village’s history. Only former administrator Ken Knutson was employed longer; his tenure spanned 26 years and six months from 1976-2002.

The West Salem Finance and Personnel Committee voted April 30 to offer water department operator Loren Schwier the water utility superintendent position; Schwier has been with the village for seven years.

Peterson and Twining’s replacements will be subject to village board approval.