Southwest Licking utility hires civil engineer Jim Roberts as its first executive director
As western Licking County keeps developing, the Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District has hired a new executive director to lead the utility provider forward.
Jim Roberts, a local civil engineer with more than 35 years of experience in Licking County, will fill the utility district's newly created position. The district's board hired Roberts in a 2-1 vote Aug. 24, with board member Larry Kretzmann voting in opposition. Roberts will start Oct. 23.
In an Aug. 6 interview, Roberts said he comes with an optimistic mindset that the utility district can do good work to serve its residents and businesses.
"I do know there's there has been stresses in the past, and I don't want to focus on those. I want to focus on how do we all move forward. I'm excited about what we can accomplish," he said.
Jim Roberts approaches job with a 'public service mentality'
A Licking County native, Roberts graduated from Heath High School in 1980 before earning a civil engineering degree from Ohio State University in 1984. Roberts lived out of state for two years before returning to Licking County in 1986 to serve as assistant city engineer for Newark. He later became city engineer. In 1994 he switched to the private sector, joining Newark-based Jobes Henderson & Associates. Since then he has remained at the firm, which was sold to Hull & Associates in 2015 and then acquired by the national firm Verdantas in 2020.
Utility district board member Trent Stepp said the district and Roberts are still negotiating Roberts salary but said the advertised range was $150,000-$180,000 and that he expects Roberts' salary to fall within that.
The Newark Verdantas location handles multiple aspects of engineering work. It has a municipal team that serves as city engineer for Heath and Pataskala as well as project design for both those cities and others. It also has a land development division that designs large industrial developments. Roberts said the group designed almost all of the Etna Township Corporate Park.
When it comes to water and sewer systems, Roberts said over the past 30 years he has been involved with water and sewer design projects for municipalities and utility districts, including Southwest Licking. He's also designed water and sewer systems for developers that have to be approved and accepted by the public utilities that will eventually operate them.
Roberts said he has a "public service mentality," and through his career in the private sector, he served on the Heath Board of Education for 16 years, Licking County Planning Commission for eight years and other boards to fulfill that desire. But Roberts said he always thought that at the end of his consulting career, he would return to public service full-time.
"The Southwest Licking job opened up, and I think some important pieces of that job would be with the relationships around the county that I have, my knowledge of funding and my knowledge of things like (tax increment financing) and (joint economic development districts). As I kind of thought about what I thought the district might like to see in their executive director, I felt like I fit," he said.
Roberts: Building relationships, working together toward a common goal will be vital
Roberts's relationships with other Licking County officials will be a critical aspect to the position. Tensions between the district and surrounding communities have been high since Licking County Commissioners approved extending the utility's service area in October 2022 to include 11,702 acres in Jersey Township; 3,439 in St. Albans Township; and 3,041 acres in Monroe Township. In March, Southwest Licking bought nearly 100 acres in St. Albans Township for future water and sewer treatment facilities, frustrating leaders in Granville, Alexandria, Johnstown and St. Albans Township, who said they received no communication from the district about its plans.
Roberts said he plans to change that.
He said he intents to have open dialogue with other community leaders and hopes they can collaborate to improve water and sewer service, not just within the district's boundaries but throughout the county.
"I recognize that we will certainly disagree on some things, but I don't think it has to be adversarial, and I don't think the current board of the district necessarily wants to keep battling with people," he said. "I look forward to some healthy dialogue with all the different entities."
In the wake of the Intel Corp.'s $20 billion investment in Licking County as well as the other development throughout western side of the county, Roberts said future development needs to be done wisely. That includes making sure there is development of all types, including housing.
But development also needs to be driven by zoning, so local communities can control their own areas, he said.
"Southwest Licking water and sewer and other providers will need to strategically serve the areas that make sense to serve and not worry about servicing areas that don't make sense to serve," Roberts said.
The utility district is growing to meet the development needs in the county's southwest corner, and construction on a $70 million wastewater treatment center is expected to start this fall. But while that project is underway, the district will need to have honest dialogue about its capacity and difficult conversations about who pays for it.
"I think a really really, really important piece of this puzzle is protecting the current users of the district; not putting any kind of undue burden on them, not putting any unfair costs on them," Roberts said. "You want to be smart and strategic with your expansion without doing anything at the expense of your current users — that's going to be a tough balance."
Roberts is an active member of the Licking County community
Outside of his professional work, Roberts has been an active community member. He's been a Newark Rotary Club member for 12 years, served 25 years on the Heath Board of Building and Zoning Appeals, held seats on the Licking County Chamber of Commerce and Grow Licking County boards, and much more.
Roberts serves as an at-large member on Heath City Council. His seat is up this year, and he is a write-in candidate for the position. Including Roberts, their are four candidates for the four at-large seats.
Heath and the utility district recently partnered on an economic development agreement. Earlier this year, the two entities along with Union Township, entered into a joint economic development district, which allows the township to collect income tax on commercial properties within a defined area. Southwest Licking provides water and sewer utilities to spur economic growth near Ohio 37 and Interstate 70 in Union Township. The township, city and utility district will then split the revenue.
Roberts said if the JEDD or other matters related to Southwest Licking come before the council, he will recuse himself. Something he has done before as Verdantas serves as Heath's engineer.
Roberts will be the water and sewer district's first executive director, which will replace its previous general manager position. C.J. Gilcher has served as interim general manager since November 2019 after former general manager and then-Etna Township Trustee John Carlisle was put on administrative leave and then removed from the position over ethical concerns. Carlisle filed lawsuits against the district over his termination and sought injunctive relief preventing the hiring of another general manager while the case was pending.
During a Sept. 5 update to the Etna Township Trustees, Stepp said the last remaining lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 29. Stepp said after the meeting that Gilcher will remain with the district and will work closely with Roberts.
mdevito@gannett.com
740-607-2175
Twitter: @MariaDeVito13
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Southwest Licking utility hires civil engineer Jim Roberts as director
