 Good afternoon everybody. Thank you for coming out tonight to honor Dennis Lutz some more he deserves it I'm Greg Duggan. I'm the town manager several months ago we knew that Dennis was going to be retiring pretty soon and Aaron Martin approached me with an idea from the public work staff With an idea to honor Dennis and memorialize his importance to the town of Essex and its history The idea from from public works was to suggest naming this facility after Dennis To me it was a no-brainer. I brought it to my predecessor. I haven't teach at the time no-brainer to him, too We approached the pitch the idea to the select board and to a person. They said absolutely so I'm happy to be here today Dennis joined the turn of Has served the town of Essex as a public works director for 38 years. He retired on July 15th of this year Even before he joined Essex or Essex Dennis was designing the town's wastewater system when he was working for Donald Hamlin consulting engineers At the time he was hired Dennis had six employees in five trucks He has since doubled the department's resources and that doesn't even begin to really capture the total impact that Dennis has had on the community In a little bit. I'll share a resolution read a long resolution that the select board adopted a Monday night It details the many many contributions that Dennis has made to the community So sit tight for that. In the meantime, thank you all for coming here today And after all Dennis has done for Essex This seems just like the most fitting thing we can do and the least we can do Today in this facility after him the public works facility and ensure that he and his legacy remain part of Essex forever Working for Dennis was great. He's a great guy He always treated everyone fairly and equally and he will be missed by the town Dennis has always treated me both professionally and personally just You can always go to Dennis talk to him about anything. He'll always great give you his best opinion on the subject of matter and he's just really good guy to Talk with and sit down and figure out a problem Very hard-working man. He's taught me a lot You know, he brought me the job and he said, you know You know when it's time to leave when you're not enjoying your job anymore, and I've enjoyed it It's just that I'm 66 so it's Like him He's been a mentor he's been a friend my husband died five years ago and he was right there for me for the whole my whole public works I Be quick so I don't melt up here You'd like to thank everyone for coming out today to celebrate with us and Dennis The dedication of the highway garage in his name Dennis started his career here as Greg said back in 1984 as the public works director He's been serving this community For the 38 years and it has definitely left his mark on this community During his time here in the town Dennis has played a key role in a lot of the major infrastructure projects that We've seen in this community 22 miles of paved road Dennis were installed under your watch As Greg said most of the infrastructure here for the sewer sanitary sewer was under construction When you started We now maintain 42 miles of sewer lines within the town and 17 pump stations Stormwater back then consisted of Putting a couple pipes underground across the road to get water from one side of the road to the other Significant changes I've taken place since then and Dennis played a major role at the local state and regional levels putting input on regarding Regulations and permitting of stormwater infrastructure and communities I could go on and on some more But all these changes that has been part of over the many years here Have helped make Essex the great community in which we all Work in or live in And I can't think of a more fitting way Than to To honor his accomplishments and dedication to the town of Essex than to name this facility after you Thank you Has been a it's been a great boss Always always instilled this team spirit, you know, it was always part of the same team So it was never like really working for a boss. You're working with your team. They That's something that I Hold dearly and it's something that I try to emulate Hopefully the people that work with me now The wear off on them and we can continue forward but Dennis has been a great mentor He's prepared our whole team to carry on We look forward to the challenges and we look forward to seeing him again off and on to help us out here. I Think we got it Dennis we're gonna have to get the sign still by the select board so you can't take it home today, but share it right now Resolution in appreciation of Dennis E. Lutz Whereas Dennis Lutz PE was hired as public works director for the town of Essex in September 1984 And whereas Dennis retired on July 15th, 2022 concluding 38 years of dedicated service and leadership to the entire Essex community and Whereas prior to joining Essex Dennis worked for the state of Vermont as an environmental engineering supervisor and for Donald L Hamlin consulting engineers as a project manager and Whereas Dennis also served in the military for 37 years Beginning on active duty as an engineer company commander in Vietnam and later as a construction site engineer in Oregon for the Corps of Engineer And following active duty became a member of the Vermont National Guard Ultimately spending the last five years of his military career as the assistant adjutant general for the Vermont National Guard and Whereas Dennis's major military awards include the Legion of Merit three Army Meritorious Service medals the army Army commendation medal the Vietnam service campaign medals and the silver order of the Deflurry medal by the Army Engineer Association and Whereas Dennis began work as the town of Essex public works director He had six employees five trucks and has since doubled the department's resources and Expanded the services that the department provides to make the town of Essex a sustainable and desirable place to live work and visit and Whereas Dennis created and updated the town's public works specifications comprehensive road management plan and winter operations plan And whereas Dennis took great steps to improve water quality in Essex and the surrounding area by adhering to the town's national pollutant discharge Elimination system phase two small municipal separate storm sewer system general permit Creating a chloride monitoring program reducing salt application Recommending the creation of and then serving on the joint stormwater Coordinating committee between the town of Essex and the village of Essex Junction and hiring the town stormwater coordinators And whereas when working at Donald L. Hamlin consulting engineers Dennis designed and constructed the town of Essex's wastewater system Then his public works director managed the system and served on the tri-town sewer committee thereby reducing sprawl and ensuring safe treatment of waste and Whereas Dennis developed the current capital planning and budgeting process for the town and has been the key individual Coordinating large projects from all town departments the select board and the community identifying needs and developing projects based on cost estimates and priorities and Whereas Dennis hot sought and obtained numerous grants to minimize the cost of the town to pave streets upgrade water sewer lines Make improvements to stormwater systems expand the sidewalk network and more and Whereas Dennis has always treated residents business owners customers and co-workers with respect and honesty and Whereas Dennis has supported community events such as green-up day and touch a truck And whereas Dennis has mentored many employees interns and students and Whereas Dennis is a lifetime member of the American Society of Simple Engineers and has remained active in numerous professional associations Including the American Public Works Association American Water Works Association and New England Water Works Association And whereas Dennis is an elected Champlain Water District Commissioner from the city of South Burlington And whereas Dennis was appointed by the governor as commissioner on the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission and Whereas Dennis has been named the Public Works Director of the year by the Vermont Highway Association and Whereas Dennis has received the American Public Works Association Distinguished Service Award Now therefore be it resolved that the select board on behalf of the staff and citizens of the town of Essex Hereby extend our most sincere appreciation to Dennis for his 38 years of dedicated service to Essex the state of Vermont and the United States This was adopted this first day of August 2022 by the Essex select board And now the important moment Dennis Carol if you can come up and unveil the new sign. Oh, we're gonna begin Starting underground I guess he I mean even before we work for the town of Essex Dennis designed the wastewater system Since he's been here you heard me speak a little bit. He's he's doubled the resources for the town He's brought in hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars worth of grants for water systems sewer systems storm water systems He's just been instrumental to the growth. He's been professional. He's been the mentor He's taught me a lot back when I was a planner as the manager now and he's been a mentor to me mentor to many others And just up most professional and dedicated smart man who has done so much for the community You can't even really Capture it all and say some words, but just numerous awards for the country for the for the community Road standards public work standards infrastructure standards just so many guidelines that are going to stick with us going forward and Yeah, keep us keep us on point and going in the right direction for many years to come At least we can do is name the facility after him and select board took that ran with it and Yeah, Dennis is gonna have a lasting legacy well beyond just what you see, but we'll be here for a long long time I'm very humbled. I don't really think I know this guy that Greg was talking about but I've had a long career and a very successful career When you do work you love it's not really work And that's how I've felt about this job for my whole career And I felt the same when I was in the military and I think that's an important part of Finding success in life is to just do what you love and and continue to do that I'm gonna do the same when I'm retired. I Do have something in common with the building? We're both well-aged. I won't say old But we still have life in us and so our plan is to do some traveling do other fun stuff that Want to do I'll probably come back and do some part-time work for the town in the future just because my heart's in it and It's a part of me the town is a part of me will always be a part of it. It's a great place to work It's a great place to live I Think that Essex has a lot of great opportunities going forward Situations change from looking at a merger to now being separate communities and in my view that's unfortunate But it may also provide an opportunity for Essex to grow and to make Progress and I'm totally confident in the people who still are working for the town We've we've always worked as a team Aaron and Annie and Carl and Dan and you name it And I could go through all the names the people on the town staff they've They're really professional and that's the one thing that I think really characterizes Essex is a professional Staff that really means well and tries to do right by the community I Have a lot of confidence that's going to continue into the future Names will change, but if we kind of follow the same pattern that we've had in the past in terms of doing our best Working at a job you love. I think there's a lot in store. That's really positive for Essex And I'll be a part of it as long as I can and why can't I'll read about it And I'll read about the success of other people Who are here doing their work to keep this a great place to live? Vermont's a great place. We're not going anywhere. I wouldn't go anywhere Families here I will get out in March. March is a bear We're gonna go someplace warm in March for a couple weeks so we can recuperate and get ready back for the summer so we can go camping again, but other than that we're gonna be around and Anybody needs to call. I actually had Discarded all the stuff on my my cell phone. I saw the town cell phone and I got a complaint the other day So I passed it on so I anticipate I'll probably still get some of those going down the road If they don't know who else to call they'll call me and I don't have a problem with that But if anybody has anything that they really want or need to reach me We're still at our same address. We'll be there for as long as we can and We're gonna enjoy life and thank you so much for doing this today. I really really appreciate it