Written By: Kasey Ketterling, PE, Municipal Services Manager & Ryan Taylor, PE, CFM, Municipal Services Project Manager
City engineers plan community land use, study environmental impact, design infrastructure, make zoning recommendations, manage budgets, and oversee project execution. The role they play in growing and maintaining city infrastructure is paramount. Whether on staff or as a consultant, they provide critical infrastructure and operations solutions to keep cities of all sizes functioning smoothly and safely.
Been There, Done That
City engineers perform a critical role for any city maintaining ongoing operations while planning and budgeting for long-term growth. However, many smaller or rural cities and municipalities are unable to fund full-time, in-house city engineer positions. For cities with limited funding, or those located in geographically challenging areas, an engineering consultant serving as city engineer can be the only available option, and this arrangement can also be a financially sound decision for a city with limited resources. T-O Engineers (T-O) views the role of a consulting city engineer as a partnership, built solidly on relationships that have been established based upon\reliable, consistent, and expert engineering expertise. Whether serving in the role of city engineer, public works director, planner, or anywhere in between, the value and knowledge that a city receives from T-O, in any of these roles, is immense.
The Right Team for Each Job
Providing state of the art engineering solutions and a vast array of engineering services to large, medium and small cities, helps give entities of all sizes the engineering acumen needed to grow their cities and serve their residents — a tight budget should not restrict access to quality engineering. T-O acts in this capacity for over 20 cities throughout the intermountain west.
T-O provides a highly qualified, resource packed and very experienced team of over 200 engineers while being an affordable choice for any city. Projects can be staffed with a variety of professionals including a wastewater, environmental, or water expert, giving the city just the expertise they need quickly, efficiently and cost effectively. “In over 27 years with the Eagle Sewer District, I have worked with several engineering firms and in my opinion, T-O Engineers ranks as one of the best.” Lynn Moser, General Manager, Eagle Sewer District.
The benefits of having a consulting city engineer representing your city’s interests backed by a wealth of resources at the ready is immeasurable. This extension of your city staff puts a representative in place who:
- Understands the paperwork process.
- Knows how to leverage resources.
- Has a thorough understanding of the regulatory process, keeping you in compliance.
- Handles approvals and permitting from start to finish, avoiding delays and costly mistakes.
- Calls upon other T-O experts to handle everything from GIS needs, stormwater, wastewater, planning, and regulatory compliance.
- Realizes time and money savings through utilizing in-house expertise and resources.
- Guides and directs the arduous federal funding paperwork process:
- Extensive knowledge of the entire process
- Paperwork is submitted quickly, efficiently, and correctly the first time
- Clients realize substantial cost savings through T-O’s honed application process
- T-O’s engineers leverage knowledge gained from similar situations encountered by other cities to provide sound solutions
Benefits of An Experienced Team
T-O’s engineers, serving as an extension of city staff, also review documents and plans that support overall city operations, while being available to assist on project-specific work. Assuming key parts of the workload can ease the burden on busy city staff who are often mired in critical administrative tasks including budgets, personnel management, reports, and public interface. An engineering consultant can pitch in and do what’s necessary to get any job done including working hand-in-hand with city personnel to manage and maintain the systems they design and pitch in on ad-hoc or emergency projects. “We are often called in the event of an emergency and asked to think on our feet to solve the client’s problem. We assess the situation and align the T-O staff to tackle the issue.” Kasey Ketterling, PE, Municipal Services Project Manager. Suddenly the situation has an available and knowledgeable team assembled set on resolving the issue. “When a client calls, it doesn’t matter what time of day or night, I pick up the call. When there is an emergency situation, I am available to consult over the phone or to go to the site in person to solve the problem. As a consulting city engineer invested in the cities I serve, you get me personally each and every time you call.” Ryan Taylor, PE, CFM, Municipal Services Project Manager.
The T-O Difference: A One-Stop-Shop with Customized Solutions
While a smaller city or municipality may have different levels of needs than a larger city, T-O can customize the service required for any size city with varying levels of in-house administrative and support staff. The T-O team leverages extensive knowledge of codes and local geography to deliver needed services region-wide, even in far-flung locations with limited access to support. Drawing on resources from the entire team — whether it be wastewater, plant operations, transportation, planning, or public safety — T-O provides municipalities throughout the intermountain west with the expertise they have come to rely upon, resulting in long-term relationships built on trust. “T-O’s best attribute is their people.” said Cody Swander, Parks Department Superintendent, City of Nampa. “I feel that they take the City’s projects seriously and push for quality work from contractors when representing the City on projects.”
Serving as trusted and knowledgeable advisors, T-O helps city councils present infrastructure solutions to stakeholders to gain consensus and educate the public about needed improvements that may be mandated by regulation or changes to code. T-O also helps guide the federal grant applications process which ultimately provides funds for essential projects and services. The T-O difference means you get:
- Complete coordination/management of city operations and services.
- Review, award and management of city contracts.
- Review of consultant engineers’ drawings.
- Provide services that a city may not be able to provide due to budgetary constraints.
- A go-to engineer who knows your city, your operations, your needs, and is invested in your community — who will take your calls in the middle of the night to deal with emergency situations.
Kasey Ketterling, PE is T-O Engineers' Municipal Services Manager. Kasey has built his career around municipal engineering, representing many different communities as their designated engineer.
Ryan Taylor, PE, CFM, serves as a Municipal Project Manager in T-O's Heber City, Utah office. Ryan currently serves as the engineer for five municipal entities and is involved in a number of professional organizations throughout the intermountain west.
To explore how T-O Engineers can help your city with roster work or serve as your city engineer and advisor, please contact Kasey Ketterling at kketerling@to-engineers.com or Ryan Taylor at rtaylor@to-engineers.com