Public Works director wraps up 35 years of service to Plano

John McGinnis will end a 35-year career with the city of Plano on Nov. 10.

He will clean out his City Hall desk and turn in the keys to the bright red pickup truck that had been his portable office for years while he served as city engineer and director of Public Works.

McGinnis will actually stay on the city payroll through Dec. 30 because of vacation time, but he does not expect to receive any 2 or 3 a.m. calls to repair broken water mains or other city business, he said.

McGinnis will leave many longtime friends and co-workers. But, he’s not leaving Plano, his home for the past 35 years. His wife, Tammy, has another year and a half to go before she will retire from the Plano Middle School where she is a physical education teacher.

McGinnis grew up in a small Indiana town near Purdue University but had plans to become a home builder, so he chose to attend Bradley University, which was No. 5 in the nation for construction management.

“My dad who was in real estate and insurance, suggested I get a degree in civil engineering so he called the dean and made plans for me to enroll the next semester in civil engineering. Since he was writing the check, I made the change.”

He graduated in 1976 from Bradley with his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, but no one was hiring engineers at the time so worked for a general contractor for about a year.

“I decided that if I was going to get my engineer’s license I needed to work for a professional engineer, and the village of Schaumburg was looking for a field inspector.

“After two years there, one of Schaumburg’s engineers became village engineer in Carol Stream. He needed an assistant and called me,” McGinnis said.

After a couple years he asked the water superintendent to give him a good recommendation and he ended up with his Class A Water Operator license.

One day he saw an ad that Plano was looking for a professional engineer-water operator, so he applied and in September 1981 he was hired.

When he was hired in Plano it was as city engineer/water superintendent. His duties were to operate the water system and oversee public works projects. He was the first person to be hired as full-time city engineer, he noted.

“Mayor Verlin Akers was worried that I’d be spending more time behind a desk than being in a ditch repairing water main leaks. But anyone who knows me knows that I’d rather be in the ditch than behind a desk,” he said.

Since coming to Plano, McGinnis has upgraded the water system, replaced a lot of old pipes underground and completed numerous other projects.

When he started, the city had 4,900 residents and it’s now 10,700, he said.

His most difficult job during his 35 years was overseeing all the home construction that took place between 2004 and 2008, he said.

“During that time we doubled the size of Plano. We built two new water towers, built an iron system filter, drilled two new wells, expanded the waste water treatment plant, and put in a new lift station, all because of the growth,” he said.

At that time the Lakewood Creek subdivision developers had plans to build out to Miller Road. They were talking about building 300 homes a year. “I said ‘no way’, but they proved me wrong,” he said.

Many of the new residents were living in Lakewood Creek homes in other towns, and learned they could get upgraded to a larger home here for less money, so they moved, he said.

McGinnis has served five mayors, starting with Akers, who hired him, through Bud Johnson, Sue Nesson, Bill Roberts and the present mayor, Bob Hausler. He could not say how many aldermen he served, but joked that “I just had to train them.”

“A lot of them think things such as installing stop signs can be done with just a request, so I always had to tell them that traffic counts and studies must be made first.”

His duties and projects have been numerous over the years, all of which have improved the city and its public areas.

So, what does he like about this job that often got him out of bed on the coldest, snowiest or rainiest night to take care of problems?

“Every day is something different. You plan on doing one thing and suddenly there’s an emergency or something else with a higher priority comes up,” he said. “It has never been a 9-5 Monday-through-Friday job.“

“I’m a hands-on guy. I’d rather design and build a project than just design it and let someone else build it,” he said.

McGinnis is not a fan of some modern technology such as emails.

People can get nasty in emails, and they expect answers immediately, he said.

He usually comes into the office after 5 p.m. to do paperwork which includes answering emails.

“If someone sends a nasty email, I’ll go to their home and talk directly to them. I prefer the old fashioned way of dealing with people – one-on-one or at least on the telephone. This is immediate,” he said, adding that he usually is able to resolve problems for people by talking directly to them.

Equipment also has changed tremendously since he started in the business. The big trucks 35 years ago had manual transmissions and the controls on other machines were much more difficult to operate. He doubts people entering the field today could drive the vehicles he started with.

His staff also has increased. He went from three to six people in the Street Department, and from three to five in the Water Department. The Wastewater Department now has its own director for a total of three people he said.

McGinnis noted that the city now hires outside firms to do most of the snow removal. There were fewer miles of streets when he started – 15 miles compared to 35 miles, today. And the city spread cinders and sand on the ice – there was no salt then, he said.

He said he has always been friends with city employees, but he does not get too close with his own employees.

He also spent 25 years as a volunteer firefighter in Plano.

When asked to look back 35 years, McGinnis said he could not think of anything he’d change.

His advice for his replacement is to be ready to deal with the public because when they call it’s usually because they’re unhappy about something. He’ll have to say no sometimes. And there will be times he’ll have to tell the aldermen that some things can’t be done.

He has reviewed the resumes of the candidates for his job and was impressed. But one thing he won’t do is comment on their qualifications. That will be up to the council members, he said.

McGinnis said the city is planning to hire someone to continue as Director of Public Works/City Engineer. He thinks one person can still do both jobs.

His thoughts about Plano’s future?

“I think it will continue to grow and someday we may have Metra train service here. The Prairie Parkway – will it ever be built? I doubt I’ll see it in my lifetime and if it does, it will probably be the Tollway Authority building it,” he said.

During retirement he plans to do more bike riding, and fixing things in the house that need attention. But once his wife retires, they’ll be doing more traveling, he said. One destination is San Francisco, and others are to take a cruise through the new Panama Canal and hike through the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and other national parks.