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Telling trustees that he could sense they are moving in a new direction, Tim Hanson, Four Rivers Sanitation Authority executive director, has announced his retirement effective in mid-April.
Two of Hanson’s top lieutenants — Julia Scott-Valdez, director of management services, and Greg Cassaro, director of plant operations — also announced their plans to retire at a board meeting Monday night.
“The last three months, I kind of sensed that the board was looking in a different direction, maybe even being active in looking for another executive director,” Hanson told trustees. “I don’t want to be that person that sticks around that long, that’s just not welcome anymore. So I’m going to announce my retirement.”
Tim Hanson is the executive director of the Four Rivers Sanitation Authority.
Trustees told Hanson there had been no plan to replace him.
Hanson was hired in 2016, leaving a job as director of Public Works for the city of Rockford. Scott-Valdez and Cassaro also worked for the city before leaving for jobs with the regional waste water treatment system.
Among a litany of accomplishments including a shift to monthly billing from quarterly, Hanson is overseeing a $200 million improvement of the 92-year-old system in response to EPA mandates to reduce phosphorous levels in rivers.
Scott-Valdez said she was brought in as a change agent in 2019. She led a rebranding effort from Rock River Water Reclamation District to Four Rivers, which was better meant to symbolize the organization’s commitment to protecting the community and the watershed.
After a 25-year career with the city of Rockford, Cassaro has for four years overseen treatment plant operations, treating 40 million gallons of wastewater per day.
Jeff Kolkey writes about government, economic development and other issues for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on X @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Tim Hanson, others plan to leave Rockford area sanitation system