INC NEWS - City’s Water Management Director Retires...

[RW Pickle]

Press Release from the Public Affairs Office.
RWP
27 Beverly

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... After 33 Years of Service

Durham, N.C. – Terry Rolan, director of the City of Durham’s Department of
Water Management, is retiring after almost 33 years of service to the
citizens of Durham.  Rolan’s last day is Friday, August 31, 2007. 

According to City Manager Patrick Baker, Rolan’s service has been
invaluable to the community.  “His strong leadership at the helm of one of
our core service departments for more than three decades has ensured that
our citizens have safe and plentiful water each time they turn on the
tap,” Baker said.  “Clean and plentiful water is something we all take for
granted here in the United States.  Because of public servants like Terry,
our citizens can thank him and his team of water system professionals for
protecting Durham’s water supply.”

According to Mike Shiflett, community activist and past-president of the
InterNeighborhood Council, Inc., Rolan’s forethought and long-range
planning put Durham ahead of other Triangle cities and are a testament to
his professionalism and dedication.  “Back in the late 90's while serving
on the board of the Watts Hospital/Hillandale Neighborhood Association,
Terry called together a series of meetings to confidentially discuss the
security of the treatment plant on Hillandale Road.  It was during those
meetings that he informed us that he was installing a second iron fence to
make Durham’s water reservoirs more secure around the perimeter,” Shiflett
said.  “While a number of us at the time questioned the need, he quietly
but firmly laid out several scenarios we hadn't thought of, including a
terrorist having easy access.  He pointed out that while Durham is very
fortunate to have redundant water and wastewater treatment plants, the
need to preserve and protect them against loss was a high priority for
him.  Fast forward to September 11, 2001, and the memory of his words and
forewarnings kept coming back into my mind.  Terry might be remembered for
a lot of different things, but for me, his years of service to Durham and
how we've been able to maintain a back-up for our water supply, protected
and preserved, is the one that I will recall every time someone mentions
his name in my presence.”

According to Patrick Byker, a local attorney and formerly with the Greater
Durham Chamber of Commerce, Rolan’s active role in ensuring Durham’s water
infrastructure paid off in ways many people haven’t considered.  “I've had
the pleasure of working with Terry almost 15 years.  He has two fine
traits that have made all of my many meetings with him enjoyable – he
thinks creatively about solving problems and he genuinely wants to help,”
Byker said.  “Whenever Durham was in the process of attracting new
industry, Terry's vision and dedication were evident and have paid off for
our community in the form of new jobs and strong tax base expansion.  Many
communities lack the basic infrastructure necessary to provide economic
opportunities for their citizens.  Thanks to Terry, Durham is not one of
those places.  I will miss him and want to thank him for all he has done
to build a strong Durham.”

For Rolan looking back over more than 30 years of service, his most
rewarding experience has been working with his fellow public servants. 
“Having the opportunity to work with and learn from some of the greatest
public servants in the field of municipal government, and in particular
the water and wastewater professionals, has been the most rewarding aspect
of my career,” Rolan said.  “Being a public servant is often a thankless
job, and my colleagues and employees do their best for the citizens of
this community.  They don’t hear it enough, but they’re going to hear it
one more time from me – thank you for all you do to ensure our community’s
health is protected each and every day.”

Rolan said he was also most proud of Durham’s leadership over the last
three decades in advances in water supply treatment for the entire
country.  “Durham was one of the first, if not the first, water system in
the United States to reduce total trihalomethanes, which can be a
potentially harmful disinfection by-product, even before we were required
to, while also reducing the use of chlorine and the cost of water
treatment,” Rolan said.  “Durham was also one of the first systems to use
a special corrosion inhibitor to protect both the City’s iron pipes as
well as our resident’s copper pipes in the late 1970’s and as a result, we
coincidentally reduced the leaching of lead from copper pipe systems seven
years before it was recognized as a problem.  As a result of special
testing by Durham in 1985, a ban on lead solder in North Carolina was
implemented before it was banned in the rest of the United States.”

Rolan has served as the first presidential officer of the American Water
Works Association (AWWA) from Durham and the first in the history of the
North Carolina Section of AWWA.  The AWWA is a member-supported,
international, non-profit organization that sponsors research to enable
water utilities, public health officials and other professionals to
provide safe and affordable drinking water to consumers.  "Terry Rolan has
been a tireless advocate for safe water throughout his distinguished
career," said AWWA Executive Director Jack W. Hoffbuhr.  "Terry's
willingness to share his knowledge and expertise through AWWA for more
than 30 years will benefit the water community for many years to come."

Rolan has also served on the boards for the AWWA, Water Environment
Federation (WEF) and the AWWA Research Foundation as well as chair of the
North Carolina Section of AWWA and the North Carolina Water Environment
Association.  Rolan’s many awards during his years of public service
include the George Warren Fuller Award and Honorary Member Award from the
AWWA and the Arthur Sidney Bedell Award from the WEF.

About the Department of Water Management
The City’s Department of Water Management is responsible for the operation
and maintenance of Durham's water supply, water treatment and water
reclamation (wastewater treatment) facilities, the collection and
distribution systems (including meter reading) and customer billing
services.  For more information on this department, visit the City’s Web
site at http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/wm/.