Stormwater management is an ongoing balancing of acts of nature, the political environment, and community education and standards. Dan Skalsky, P.E., Environmental/Public Works Department director for Roswell, GA, relishes his role helping to usher the city through various stormwater initiatives.
One was the creation of a committee involving multiple city departments to promote green infrastructure and compliance with MS4 permit requirements. Skalsky points out that it’s important to get participation from transportation and community development departments to fully leverage the collective expertise in creating stormwater management practices that fit with aesthetically pleasing roadway features, recreation and park facilities, and private development. This combined expertise encourages approaches that don’t take up high-priced real estate. For example, the city used a 319 grant for a permeable brick paver project in its historic district, which fits well with the character of the district, says Skalsky. The city’s parks host constructed wetlands and bioswales to treat parking lot runoff and to address erosion and water-quality issues. An expanded city pond to treat roadway stormwater runoff has become a shared BMP for adjacent properties. “The Chattahoochee River is a major water supply for the entire metro area, so we’re very conscious of being a river town and what falls on the ground ends up as our drinking water supply,” says Skalsky. He also was involved in the compliance process for Roswell’s first EPA inspection a few years ago, in which weaknesses in the city’s program highlighted opportunities to create a stronger program. Skalsky also was on board with a Georgia Association of Water Professionals effort to successfully transform a potential bill jeopardizing stormwater utility fees for projects designed in accordance with the state stormwater management manual; a committee was eventually formed to set guidelines for stormwater credit programs. Skalsky also has been involved updating Roswell’s master plan. The city formed its stormwater utility in 2006 and started collecting fees in 2011. After starting from scratch and learning many lessons, “We are now in a much better position to have a coherent strategy for how to use stormwater utility revenues to best serve the community and comply with our regulatory requirements,” says Skalsky.
What He Does Day to Day
In addition to the stormwater utility, Roswell’s Environmental/Public Works Department includes water, solid waste, fleet services, and support services divisions. He responds to the highest priorities of the day. “More than 80% of my time is communicating with the department’s many employees, division managers, and key supervisors; reviewing weekly progress reports; brainstorming about conflicts and problems; and spending as much time as possible on long-term priorities, planning, and resource allocation.”
What Led Him to This Line of Work
Skalsky spent his childhood in Cleveland, OH, enjoying parks, camping, and hiking. “When I was very young, the Cuyahoga River caught fire several times and contributed to the passage of the Clean Water Act,” he says. “I became very interested in the environment and received a B.S. in natural resources and a M.S. in engineering from The Ohio State University.” Skalsky’s career has spanned 20 years as a consulting engineer, eight years in local government, and five years in state and federal agencies.
What He Likes Best About His Work
Skalsky looks forward to working with talented people, something he notes has become progressively more important as he gets older. “The environmental and public works field attracts many highly motivated, talented, community-oriented individuals,” he says, adding that he enjoys helping them work as teams improving service delivery to the community in a “challenging, meaningful, and fun” manner. “We have three enterprise funds, an internal fleet service fund, and 95 staff to work with on a never-ending string of challenging problems,” he says. “Most of the time I feel like a kid in a candy store.”
His Greatest Challenge
“Local government can be a challenging environment with many outside factors impacting how we carry out our jobs daily,” says Skalsky. “My personal struggle is being able to communicate effectively to all the different players involved. Communication is an important duty in my role. I can always do a better job of making sure the community better understands the environment and what the city is doing to impact it here in Roswell.”
