TCEP 217: What It Means to Be a City Engineer and a Public Servant

In this episode, I talk to Kara M. Boyles, Ph.D., P.E., a registered professional engineer who became the City of South Bend’s first female city engineer in January 2017, about what it means to be a city engineer.

Engineering Quotes:

Here Are Some of the Questions I Ask Kara:

Tell us about your career journey and how it has led to you becoming the first woman to serve as City Engineer for South Bend?

What are your current roles and responsibilities as the City Engineer for South Bend?

Why is this job important to you and what made you stay on the public side?

What do you find fulfilling about being the City Engineer, and about being a public servant?

Can you give us an example of what robust and well-planned infrastructure means?

What is South Bend’s desire to be “smart” and what does it mean?

What key leadership principles and core values help guide you as a leader?

Which course do you teach at ND and how does it relate to what you do as City Engineer?

How can getting an MBA help engineers in their career?

What research have you been doing around women’s career commitment?

How do you avoid burnout and keep a balance in your life?

Here Are Some Key Points Discussed in This Episode About What It Means to Be a City Engineer:

When starting your engineering career, find a good mentor who wants to engage and inspire you. Getting experience in the government and private sector will help you to understand both viewpoints.

A city engineer is responsible for all public works and improvements of city-owned assets. It includes things like roadway infrastructure, demolitions, remodels, rehabilitation, buildings, drinking, wastewater treatment, and water resources. A city engineer must have a skilled team that they can rely on to be successful. It also involves hiring engineering and architectural consultants, reviewing private developments, issuing permits, updating ordinances, drafting resolutions, and creating many policies for public works.

Civil engineers notice early in their careers that they get to make a difference in people’s lives every day. What we do matters and does impact everyone daily. Your company mission serves as your essential guide in making decisions.

When civil engineers know their missions and understand the values, they can translate them into the intention behind what they do and how they spend money. For a robust and well-planned infrastructure to work, you cannot only focus on the areas where the loudest complaints are made. If the silent hub is ignored, the problems will only get worse. There is no correlation between loudness and merit. If funding is the problem, you must find other funding resources and set better benchmarks to meet the expectations of your residents. Be transparent with your residents because the more information everyone has, the more empowered everyone will be.

One of South Bend’s core values is excellence. This can be achieved by leveraging technology to make life better for the residents. Smart sewers use depth and flow sensors and smart values to measure levels and redirect flow from trunk lines nearing capacity to lines that have capacity. In storm weather events, the sensors communicate with each other to help prevent combined sewer overflow. The data and analytics from the smart sewer network helped find significant savings and a large reduction in commitments compared to traditional sewer systems.

Key leadership principles will help guide you as a leader. Being and feeling authentic at work will lead to higher engagement, work satisfaction, better performance, and better overall well-being. If you are a leader or have the power within an organization, it is easier to be authentic, but everyone in the company should feel at ease with being their authent...