Civiltec was fortunate to continue the essential work of providing engineering services to Arizona and California communities in 2020, with several milestone projects completed and record numbers achieved.
Terry Kerger, Principal Engineer and Associate, noted his gratitude for the ability to continue providing services even as the world went into lockdown. “I’m just thankful that we continue to grow our base of active clients who are pleased with the valuable engineering services our team provides,” said Terry.
To kick off 2020, the City of Brea engaged Civiltec to assess and update their municipal Water Master Plan as necessitated by booming development in the City. Greg Ripperger served as Project Manager, and with support from Civiltec’s Monrovia team, including Gretel Ochoa-Nhac who was promoted to Project Engineer in August, the updated Plan was delivered by the year’s end.
During the summer, several flagship projects were completed in Arizona including a drainage capacity expansion project in partnership with Coconino County and the City of Flagstaff. Managed by Vice President Chris Duzsa, this work helped to address flood risk and protect local structures in a community impacted heavily by wildfires. With leadership by Principal Richard Aldrige, Civiltec also delivered a Drainage and Utilities Improvement Study for the City of Prescott to lay the groundwork for upgrades to their Police and Fire Public Safety Drill Grounds.
In September, Senior Engineer and Principal Shem Hawes spearheaded the launch of Civiltec’s PFAS mitigation service area with the completion of a PFAS treatment system design project for California Domestic Water Company. Shem hopes to continue growing Civiltec’s PFAS practice to assist water utilities in adapting to today’s evolving regulatory environment and provide clean water to local communities, particularly in the Orange County area where he is heading up Civiltec’s new Fullerton office as of December 2020.
Civiltec Partner David Song remembers the construction of the Tesoro Highlands Development steel tank and pump station, part of Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency’s water system, as a flagship project of 2020. “We love these types of projects because they lie at the heart of what we do here at Civiltec,” said David. “It has been exciting to provide engineering and design services for water infrastructure projects that will help to ensure that local communities have access to a clean, reliable supply of water.”
Reflecting on the contributions of the Civiltec team during what was in many ways a challenging year, David commented: “I’ve been very grateful to be part of Civiltec in this past year; to be able to work with bright, hard working and loyal staff even when we couldn’t always work as closely as we wanted to. I want to give special thanks to our administrative staff members who have kept morale high and put a lot of work into maintaining a festive office environment. Civiltec has always been a place where health and family come first, which has been especially evident over the last year. I’m thankful that we’ve been able to remain vigilant and keep our people safe and healthy while delivering top tier service for our clients and their communities.”