Kelly White, Ossian resident, Fort Wayne native, is Bluffton’s first city engineer
By DAVE SCHULTZ
Kelly White may have the best office in Bluffton. It’s at least in competition for the best view.
White begins her second full week as Bluffton’s first-ever city engineer today. She’s ensconced in a second-floor office in City Hall, in the building’s northeast corner.
A significant rainfall and a clogged roof drain last spring resulted in water damage to several rooms in City Hall, with the clerk-treasurer’s office (which is immediately below White’s office) and the mayor’s office on the first floor bearing the brunt of the damage. The second-floor rooms were also damaged, but not as badly.
Still, new flooring and ceiling tiles, accompanied by new interior lighting, gives White’s office a bright outlook and the windows give her a remarkable view of Market Street.
It was in that room where she talked about her personal history and how she sees her work ahead.
“I’ve been impressed with the city of Bluffton from the moment I began talking to the mayor and the department heads,” said White, who has 16 years of work experience on her resumé. “They’re very well versed on current regulations and projects.”
She sees her job not as a hands-on director but as an adviser and in-house consultant as the city moves forward. One of the first things she’ll be involved with is the setting of new city standards. The current standards have been assailed as too stringent, particularly as compared to those of nearby municipalities.
When asked if she’s conversant with construction standards, she had a quick answer: “Very,” she said.
White is a 2005 graduate of Trine University in Angola, where she majored in civil engineering,and did graduate work at Villanova University in Philadelphia. She has experience working with stormwater and sanitary sewers, plus public works, with Fort Wayne City Utilities, and also worked with the Indiana Department of Transportation. Engineers called it “wet side and dry side” work, and the city will require that kind of expertise as it adds housing and a stormwater utility, among other things a growing community will need.
She went to work in Fort Wayne right out of college and moved on to INDOT and then back to City Utilities in the Summit City to gain experience. “I wanted to explore other strengths in engineering,” she said.
The work on city standards is a challenge she’s ready for. During her time with INDOT, she noted that the agency had prescribed sets of standards that are updated biennially. A city striving to create a set of standards, she said, finds that it needs them to be improved and reassessed to make sure they’re right for current codes and safety requirements.
“I understand we’re revamping our standards, but everybody has to go through that, and everybody has to continue to look at them and assess them,” she said.
White is a graduate of Fort Wayne North High School. She said she and her husband have lived in Ossian for five years.
She feels very comfortable in Bluffton. Many of the engineering firms the city uses as consultants are ones she’s familiar with from her time in Fort Wayne.
Bluffton Mayor John Whicker is impressed.
“She will be very good for us,” he said. “She is fitting right in with the department heads.
“What’s impressed me,” Whicker continued, “is that she wants to know more about the culture of the city. That’s important to me.”
daves@news-banner.com
