On Tuesday, 3 November, our engineer colleagues and friends Gaye Sprague and John Paulson were elected to their city councils. At a time when so much of American government is debating infrastructure, it seems especially relevant and important to have civil engineers serve in office.
Gaye Sprague has been elected to the Greenville, South Carolina City Council. She ran on a platform of stronger services to local business, a greater concentration on safety issues within the city, environmental enhancement, and better communication and development with younger residents who will be integral to the city’s long-term properity.
Many people in the erosion control and testing community know Gaye with her husband Joel Sprague of TRI/Environmental. Joel oversees TRI’s new large-scale erosion and sediment control test facility in South Carolina (the Denver Downs Research Facility [DDRF]).
John Paulson has been elected to the Sandy Springs, Georgia City Council. John was part of the movement only a handful of years ago to establish Sandy Springs, which previously had been served only by the county government. This establishment of an independent city forging its own path was integral to John’s platform, which focused on ensuring responsive government for this newly recognized community. He also stressed his engineering experience, which the city will appreciate given that 25% of its budget is focused on construction.
John is a veteran of retaining wall and reinforcement designs.
Geosynthetica wishes both of you a warm congratulations on your new public service endeavors.
We trust you will keep us posted on the latest!
Chris Kelsey is the editorial director for Geosynthetica. He can be reached at chris@geosynthetica.net.
