WI: Janesville’s Public Works Director Carl Weber, P.E. Named to APWA 2014 Top Ten Public Works Leaders

The city of Janesville’s Director of Public Works Carl J. Weber, P.E. was recently selected as one of the American Public Works Association (APWA) 2014 Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year.

Each Top Ten Leader will be honored during the Awards Ceremony of the APWA 2014 International Public Works Congress & Exposition taking place in Toronto, Ontario in Canada during August 17-20, 2014. Weber will also be presented the award locally on Tuesday, July 15, 2014 at 10:00 a.m., at the APWA Wisconsin Chapter Golf Outing. 

APWA annually recognizes ten of the most outstanding public works professionals from across the U.S. and Canada for their career-long dedication and service, professionalism and expertise in public works infrastructure. As one of the most coveted and prestigious awards presented by the association, the Top Ten Public Works Leader award is given to honor the public works professional’s career, in which he or she demonstrated excellence in public works, services and infrastructure in his community through advancement of public works services and technology. 

Weber began his career as a design and project engineer for paving and sewer projects for the city of Racine, Wis. His first appointed department head position was as city engineer for the city of Waukegan, Ill., and he has since served as Director of Public Works for the Cities of DePere, Green  Bay, and Janesville, Wisconsin. During this time, Weber served under eight mayors, two city administrators, three city managers, and over 100 city council members. 

As the City of Janesville’s Public Works Director, Weber has overseen the conversion to automated garbage and recycling collection, which included single stream recycling; the repair of a vulnerable earthen dike; the funding for reconstruction of a one-mile street segment within the central business district, which included a bike trail and construction of a large parallel rain garden that allowed for treatment of stormwater before discharging into the adjacent Rock River; and the design and construction of a $2 million business incubator building and a $6 million bus maintenance and storage garage.

For the city of Green Bay, Weber introduced computerized routing of bulk waste and brush  collection; improved leaf collection policies and procedures; oversaw more than 15 miles of urban arterial street reconstruction, including Lombardi Avenue in front of Lambeau Field; and planned a multi-jurisdictional construction of a six-mile, four-lane arterial that traversed three communities, combining and closing gaps between two existing rural roadways. 

“I have worked with some excellent public works officials during my career, but Carl Weber stands  out from all the rest in my estimation because of his three outstanding qualities: 1) his dedication to  the public good and always striving to do what’s best for the entire community, not just what might  be politically expedient; 2) his high degree of ethical conduct that pervades all that he does, and 3) the professionalism that he constantly displays and exhibits in his work,” said Walworth County  Director of Central Services/Public Works Kevin Brunner. “He has continued his remarkable career in  Wisconsin communities through accomplishing more significant and innovative public works projects. He is certainly a leader among his peers in the State of Wisconsin,” Brunner said.