So, we’ve finally got a nomination for a new Water Utility Manager. If all goes well, he’ll end the 11 months with an interim director and our City Engineer can do one less job. Here’s what they are telling us.
Tom Heikkinen has been nominated to serve as the new General Manager for the Madison Water Utility. Heikkinen would succeed David Denig Chakroff, who left the post September of last year. City Engineer Larry Nelson has been leading the agency on an interim basis since then.
Tom has 15 years experience with the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. He has lead a team of 270 employees in providing 170 million gallons per day of clean drinking water to 1.8 million people in the suburbs surrounding Washington, D.C. He oversaw a water distribution system that covered 1,000 square miles with more than 50 storage tanks. He was also responsible for returning clean water to the environment through effective wastewater treatment. As part of his oversight of the utility’s energy management program, Heikkinen initiated a program to purchase one-third of the utility’s electricity directly from a wind farm.
Heikkinen earned both his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and his Masters of Engineering from the University of Maryland. Heikkinen and his wife have two children.
Heikkinen’s nomination is subject to confirmation by the Madison Water Board and Common Council. He is expected to start in early August.
