Newark utilities boss Loomis continues 'living the dream' into retirement
NEWARK − Roger Loomis, the city of Newark's longtime utilities superintendent, has gone fishing and really is "living the dream," he always jokingly claimed while on the job.
Loomis, who served 19 years as the city of Newark's utilities superintendent or water administrator and 38 years with the city department, began his retirement Monday. He worked almost 46 years in the business, starting with a summer job at the Dalton, Ohio, water department.
“Thanks for the 38 years here in Newark," Loomis told the crowd at his retirement party. "I think it was a pretty good decision to move down here. It’s good to have a job with a purpose.”
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His tenure as superintendent began when he succeeded Joe Sawyer in 2004, about the same time federal mandates required massive sewer line updates. So, it was Loomis who had to explain to city officials and citizens why the city should spend many millions of dollars, tear up streets, and inconvenience businesses, motorists and residents.
“I think most people understand," Loomis said. "They get it. You’ve got to fix things. You’ve got to replace them eventually.
“When you're working out in the streets and tearing things up, you become the face of the problems. You’re out in the public more. We’ve worked hard to make that as painless as possible. It’s been one project after another. We put a lot of pipe in the ground. We’ve had some quite large projects.
“Generally, utilities are behind the scenes," Loomis said. "You turn on the spigot, you expect water to come out, and flush toilet, you expect it to go away."
The old sewers, some dating to the 1870s, are brick and in danger of failing. The new sewers are made of fiberglas or plastic and expected to last 100 years.
The projects included the $22 million downtown utility upgrade project in 2015-18 and the $28 million Fourth Street infrastructure project, which started in 2020 and scheduled to finish this year. An Environmental Protection Agency mandate requires the city to separate sanitary and storm sewers to prevent combined sewer overflows of sewage into the river.
“He asked for some big dollars,” Mayor Jeff Hall said. “But, surely no one ever questions him and his integrity.”
Loomis, who will be 64 in August, grew up in Wayne County, outside Wooster, Ohio. It was after high school graduation he took a summer job reading water meters and mowing grass at the Dalton, Ohio, wastewater plant.
He planned to go to school for turf grass management and run a golf course, but the summer job changed those plans.
“The treatment process intrigued me,” Loomis said. “My dad sold water softener for 45 years, so I’d kind of been around the water field for a lot of years. I was always intrigued by how the (wastewater) plant ran and it was kind of neat learning it. They let me run tests in the lab and I always thought that was kind of cool. I just kind of enjoyed that kind of work."
He worked through college and never left the business, working for the city of Wooster and other towns in the area before coming to Newark in 1985, as assistant superintendent at the wastewater plant.
Now, 38 years later, the city's major stormwater projects will continue without him.
“We tried to talk him out of it, but he’s got other things to do in life," Hall said, like fishing, golfing and woodworking.
Councilman Doug Marmie, R-6th Ward, said, "If we could all just follow in Roger Loomis’ footsteps and have thatpurpose and do what he has done, then Newark would be even a better place."
Loomis said his successor, Brandon Fox, 44, will continue moving the city forward, but there will still be EPA-mandated projects remaining even after Fox retires.
“If I waited for the next project to get done, I’d go on forever," Loomis said.
“We’ve got a good team here and people won’t see any real changes," Loomis said. "We’ll continue on with all our projects. I feel good about leaving because we have good people in all departments. I feel comfortable with the people that are here.””
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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark utilities boss Loomis keeps 'living the dream' into retirement
