Tenure Established Revamped Public Confidence in City Water Utility
Trenton N.J. – Mayor Reed Gusciora is announcing that the Director of Water and Sewer (DW&S) Dr. Shing-Fu Hsueh is stepping down from his role leading the utility effective Friday, September 13th. He was one of Mayor Reed Gusciora’s first appointees as Trenton’s executive.
His tenure overseeing the department, which encompasses Trenton Water Works (TWW), has seen substantial accomplishments including; restoring high water quality, eliminating disinfection by-products (DPBs), launching millions in capital projects, reestablishing effective communication with the public, reducing vacancies by 26% and promoting Taya Brown-Humphrey to superintendent of TWW’s filtration plant.
Dr. Hsueh says that he feels TWW is in a good position for him to step away. “With Taya’s recent appointment heading filtration, we now have fine leadership in all sectors of the utility.” Hsueh maintained. “I had originally only planned to stay for about 3 months. But after seeing all the work that needed to be done, I was compelled to stay until we could start to restore public trust in our water.”
Steven J. Picco, Vice Chair of the New Jersey Water Supply Authority will be taking over DW&S as interim Director. He has over 40 years’ experience in the areas of water quality and supply, both as a regulator and practicing attorney. Picco is a former Assistant Commissioner of both the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the New Jersey Department of Energy.
Mayor Gusciora commended Director Hsueh for “staying as long as he did. We were lucky that he took the job, and luckier still that he was able to make such strides for our community. He faced tremendous scrutiny from the press, the public, and City Council. But he exceeded all expectations in his duty to the people of Trenton.”
The City will establish a committee with input from City Council and the Mayor to conduct a national search for a permanent Directorial selection. Search committee members will be announced at a later date.
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