April 2020 Vol. 75 No. 4
UCT 2020
Longtime Municipal Director Todd Reck Reflects on MVP Career
By Jeff Awalt, Executive Editor
Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and growing up primarily in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Todd Reck developed an early interest in engineering that was encouraged by his father, who taught math and electronics for many years. After high school, he planned to focus on structural engineering at Texas A&M University but changed to water and wastewater engineering after taking a hydraulics class and never looked back.
He spent his early professional years as a consultant for engineering consulting firm CH2M Hill (now Jacobs), where he worked as an engineer and project manager, with major clients that included municipalities, river authorities, water districts
and private industry.
He joined the City of Irving in 1998 and was named Water Utilities director in 2008. Today he oversees a department of 162 full-time employees with a fiscal 2020 budget of $111.7 million and a 2020 capital improvements budget of more than $30 million.
Reck has led many key projects and initiatives for Irving, including the planning, easement acquisition, design and construction of the Lake Chapman water supply system – the final phase of a 45-year effort to secure a reliable supply of high-quality water for Irving residents. He continues to oversee the operations of the Lake Chapman pipeline, the water distribution system and the wastewater collection system while leading planning and engineering projects, regulatory compliance and the development water conservation and water reuse programs.
Reck leads a strong community outreach effort, as the Water Utilities Department has received awards and recognition across the state for its partnership with the Irving Independent School District, and development of a unique training and certification program for future water and wastewater system operators. he became a founding board member and agreed to serve as the first president of the North Texas Chapter of UCTA. He remained in the position for two and a half years, providing leadership and helping build a strong chapter.
He is a member of the American Water Works Association, Texas Municipal Utilities Association (TMUA), Water Environment Association of Texas (WEAT) and the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies. He has been an active board member and leader of multiple professional organizations and has served as president of TMUA, the North Texas Section of WEAT.
Reck was named The Most Valuable Professional of the underground infrastructure industry in January at the annual Underground Construction Technology (UCT) International Conference & Exhibition, in Fort Worth, Texas.
UC: What led you to move from an engineering consulting firm early in your career to a municipality?
Reck: I pursued an opportunity back in 1998 to lead a major project for the city of Irving that included the planning, design, construction and operation of a new water supply system. Dave Ryburn, the Water Utilities Director at that time, hired me and gave me the opportunity. The project included about 35 miles of 72-inch diameter pipe, pumping facilities, metering facilities and reservoirs to transport Irving’s water supply in Jim Chapman Lake to Lewisville Lake for eventual treatment and use in the city of Irving.
UC: How did your early consulting experience prepare you for that new career path? Was it a difficult transition to a political environment?
Reck: It provided a good technical background and helped me appreciate and understand how consulting firms operate. When you enter the political environment of public utilities, you learn very quickly that you need to have good communication skills and be able to explain your challenges and needs to people with all types of backgrounds, many of which are not technical minded and think differently than an engineer. You also gain a much greater appreciation for the continuous operations, maintenance and customer challenges that pop up each day at a utility.
UC: Were there any specific role models or mentors who had a positive impact on your career?
Reck: My first job after graduation was as a consulting engineer for CH2M Hill. I worked with Ron Sieger and he taught me the importance of participating in professional organizations and pushed me to get involved. Although it was a little intimidating at first as a young engineer, I jumped in and have since helped lead several professional organizations including UCTA. Since coming to Irving, my greatest mentors have been Dave Ryburn (former Water Utilities Director) and Ramiro Lopez (former Assistant City Manager). Both of them had long careers at the city of Dallas before coming to Irving and both had a great understanding of how to get things done in municipal government.
UC: How has the work of municipal water utilities changed over the course of your career?
Reck: We use and rely on technology now more than ever. We have a lot of tools that make our work much more efficient. We can collect more data in the field and use the data to help us understand the condition of our assets and plan for the repairs, rehab and replacement to help reduce our risk and reduce loss of service. Of course, obtaining the funds to meet all of our needs remains a big challenge!
UC: Are there any specific projects/career accomplishments you’re most proud of?
Reck: I’m very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to lead the Water Supply Project for Irving resulting in the transportation and use of Jim Chapman Lake water for both Irving and the Upper Trinity Regional Water District. It was a lot of hard work and a great experience for a young engineer. It was a $100 million project and the largest public works project Irving had tackled on its own. There were some that doubted we could pull it off, but we finished on time, within budget and the facilities have performed very well since startup operations began in 2003.
UC: What are some of the greatest challenges you’ve faced in your role as a water utilities director?
Reck: Some of the major infrastructure failures you experience working for a water utility can be really difficult and stressful to work through. We’ve had major flooding of roadways, buildings and homes from water system failures. We’ve had large diameter sewer failures that caused backups into homes and discharges into the environment. You have to hustle to put things back together and make difficult decisions while the news media and the regulatory agencies are documenting the results. Plus, everyone has a cell phone and wants to record and post the event to social media. You can’t eliminate all of your risk, but these events are a big motivator to try and find the areas of greatest risk in your systems and work to reduce the risk and potential impacts from failure.
UC: What do you see as the most important issues in water infrastructure management going forward?
Reck: The biggest challenges are managing risk and securing enough funds to stay up with infrastructure needs. In the municipal environment, you are continually providing funds to replace or relocate water and sewer lines for TXDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) projects, street projects, drainage projects and development projects. These projects typically don’t line up with where your greatest risk and needs are, so you have to also find the funds to pay for projects needed to have a reliable water and wastewater system.
UC: How did the North Texas Chapter of the Underground Construction Technology Association (UCTA) come to be, and how has it contributed to the success of you and others?
Reck: Russ Ford (LAN) asked me to speak at a Gulf Coast Chapter meeting about 12 years and after speaking I mentioned to Russ that we needed a similar chapter in the DFW Metroplex. I really liked the mix of attendees as it included utility leaders, consultants, equipment vendors and contractors. The meetings provided a great forum for everyone to share project and infrastructure information. Russ agreed and suggested that I take the lead on forming a new chapter. We reached out to others including Frank Crumb, Charlie Stringer and Paige Ginn and began forming the initial board and planning the first meeting. We’ve been fortunate to have a strong board over the past ten 10 filled with members that are passionate about underground construction and solving the problems we run into each day. One of the biggest benefits for me has been the networking and building relationships with members. These relationships and the knowledge I’ve gained through being active in UCTA have really helped me and the city of Irving as we’ve had to work through some challenging infrastructure issues.
UC: As the first president, what were the challenges you faced in getting the organization off the ground?
Reck: One of the first challenges was finding the money to reserve a meeting location and pay for the meal. The Gulf Coast Chapter was really helpful and loaned us the money. We didn’t have a great way to advertise the meeting, so we all sent out emails to our contacts in the industry. We didn’t know what to expect regarding attendance, but we had about 60 to 70 show up for the first meeting and quickly grew our meeting attendance to over 100 people. The chapter has been really successful ever since the first meeting. We were able to quickly pay back the loan and we even began funding some scholarships. Thanks to a lot of successful sporting clay and golf tournaments, we have a very healthy scholarship fund and are able to help many college students each year.
UC: What were your reasons for helping to form UCTA?
Reck: Every municipality, river authority, water district, municipal utility district, etc. must deal with the challenges of operating and maintaining underground utilities. Although there are a lot of good professional organizations in our industry, UCTA focuses on the one thing we all have in common – underground infrastructure. As easements and rights-of-way continue to get more congested with new underground infrastructure, it increases the difficulty and cost to keep our utilities running. We have to continue to work together to develop new technologies, new equipment and new techniques to test, assess, construct and maintain our infrastructure. In an urban environment, this will continue to get more challenging and more expensive to do.
UC: Many of the underground construction sectors are struggling to attract young talent and transfer the knowledge of experienced workers nearing retirement. Is this true of water utilities and, if so, how are you addressing it?
Reck: It is a big challenge for all of us to attract and hold on to young talent. We’ve been partnering with the Irving Independent School District (IISD) for many years trying to educate high school students on the opportunities in our industry. We work with a group of students throughout each school year and the training we provide allows them to test for state water and wastewater operator licensing when they graduate. We’ve been able to hire some of these students after graduation and the licensing gives them a head start on others with no background or experience in water and wastewater fields.
UC: You’re known for having close ties with Texas A&M University. Can you tell us about that?
Reck: We are a family of Aggie engineers! My wife and I met in the civil engineering department and our son and daughter are both engineering graduates of Texas A&M University. I was fortunate to meet some really good people in the civil engineering department while at Texas A&M University and still work closely with several of them in our industry today.
UC: Does civil engineering run in the family?
Reck: Engineering in general certainly runs in our family. My wife, Shawn, and I are both civil engineers. My son, Aaron, is a mechanical engineer and my daughter, Annie, has a degree in chemical engineering. In addition, my older brother is an industrial engineer, his oldest son is a chemical engineer, my brother-in-law is a civil engineer and his son is finishing up his degree in civil engineering. All of us are Aggies and cheer for the same school on Saturdays in the fall! Also, my kids grew up with lots of exciting talk at the dinner table: construction projects, concrete, rebar, water quality, pipes, you name it. I’m not sure they had a chance to think about other careers! •
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