Jim Fair
Nick Stegall ends his 4 ½ -year tenure as General Manager at Greer Commission of Public Works Friday, the day of his formal retirement from lifetime service to public works. He will be honored tonight at City Council with a proclamation.
Jim Fair
Randy Olson, left, has been named interim General Manager at Greer CPW as a search committee looks for a replacement for the retiring Nick Stegall. Carlos Gittens, right, is the Inland Port Project Manager.
Jim Fair
Nick Stegall presents a $100 voucher to winners of a social media campaign for customers to sign up for direct billing.
In Part I of an interview with GreerToday.com that was as much reflective as looking ahead, Stegall shared his commitment to the utilities and what he sees for Greer’s future. Part II will be published Wednesday featuring Stegall’s proclamation and recognition at City Hall.
Q: Why are you retiring and why now?
A: I actually retired in the state retirement system about a year and a half ago. It’s just a number of things, most having to do with personal things. My mother has been living by herself in Fort Mill in the same house since the 1940s. When we move back there that will help her and taking care of the place. She had a granddaughter about a month ago in Rock Hill. My wife and I own some real estate we are shifting around and marketing and that sort of thing. It’s just a lot of different issues going on that take more of my time. We need to get things in order if we’re going to retire. Get to the point where we can enjoy ourselves and not worry about renters and that kind of thing.
Q. You have had an impact far beyond Greer. That must be quite satisfying.
A. One thing I want to say about my retirement. I guess everybody gets a little sentimental when you think about retiring. When I ride around the state I can see things that I had something to do with. The linemen and the crew always did the real work. And the ladies that take the payments in the front office. I think about where I’ve been and how many customers I’ve influenced in some small way. That was my form of service in dealing with all those people, all those projects, day-to-day operations, scheduling work, maintenance, new construction and that sort of thing. I’ve seen a lot.
Q: How would you sum up your tenure at Greer CPW?
A: “I think I was able to help a good deal while I was here. I did some things the commissioners wanted to see accomplished. We got through what appears to be the low point of the economy. Some cuts were made. We improved some efficiencies, reduced the number of employees and reduced the number of vehicles.
Q: That must have been tough.
A: It just needed to be done. We weren’t as busy as we were several years before. So we had to adjust. Most of it was done by attrition. There were people who left and there were jobs combined.
Q: How did it play asking to do more with less?
A: People adjust. The employees always made sure the job gets done. Sometimes when somebody leaves you just make those adjustments. Especially, if there’s not a lot of new construction going on at that time. One thing that we did do is we concentrated more on replacing old sewer lines, which is inflow infiltration. I imagine most of those will be wrapped up in three to four more months.
Q: The Greer CPW Centennial was on your watch. From the outside looking in, it appeared to be a big success.
A. I was real pleased with the Centennial. I wish we had more participation from our customers. I think our partners were very helpful and involved, the city, elected officials, chamber and every one supported the effort.
We had some nice family functions that weekend. There were discussion several times whether to rent that big tent or take our chances that we would have good weather. Looking back I’m glad we did rent it. I think the employees were pleased with the Centennial.
I was very encouraged with the book (100 Years of CPW) we put together. I think that book will last and people will look back at it for the next 100 or 50 years. That’s what the history of the first 100 years was and Joada Hiatt did a fantastic job. Farrah (Lister) did a lot of research. We didn’t have a lot of records here. They disappeared over the years. Now it’s documented and it won’t be so hard next time.
Q. What is most difficult thing you had to deal with here?
A. It’s difficult to deal with customers who really can’t afford to pay their bills. We are in a
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