Chattanooga's administrator for the Department of Public Works is leaving the job next month after a 15-year career, according to a news release from the City of Chattanooga.
Justin Holland, who has worked for the City of Chattanooga since 2005 and was named as administrator in 2016, has accepted a position with Jacobs as a client account manager, which he will begin on October 19.
"I have been honored and thankful to serve the City of Chattanooga's residents and the Public Works Department employees as the Administrator of Public Works under Mayor Berke's leadership," Holland said in the release. "I am excited to take this next step and begin working with other communities and utilities to build strategies for innovative and sustainable solutions."
Over the years, Holland has overseen hundreds of capital projects and programs including the construction of the new Miller Park and East Lake Park and increasing curbside recycling. The department also became the first American Public Works Association accredited agency in Tennessee during Holland's term as administrator, the release states.
"Our team has worked hard to become the City's leader in environmental stewardship, focused on providing solutions to safe and healthy built environments while preserving our natural resources," Holland said in the release.
Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke said Holland's work "will be felt in our neighborhoods for a long time."
"Justin has led the department with skill and steadiness, transforming it into the first certified Public Works department in the state," Berke said in the release.
An interim administrator will be named in the coming weeks.
The Department of Public Works employs more than 728 full-and-part-time staff across multiple divisions that serve Chattanoogans around the clock, according to the release.
Staff photo by Mark Pace/Chattanooga Times Free Press — Public Works Director Justin Holland, left, and Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke speak ahead of an announcement at the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The city announced a new solar array at the plant and will take part in a green|spaces program designed to make businesses more energy efficient.