New public works director, city engineer named

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November 27, 2009

By ANDY GOODELL

OSKALOOSA — He’s come a long way to help out our roads.

Originally from West Bengal, India, Akhilesh Pal, 33, recently signed on as Oskaloosa’s new public works director. Former public works director Dave Neubert now serves as waste water management director. A phone message left for Neubert was not returned at press time.

Not only is Pal the new public works director, but he will also serve as the city engineer, a position previously held by Liz Finarty. Finarty issued her resignation from that position in late June, working through the first half of July.

Just before he began working for the city of Oskaloosa a week and a half ago, the public works office moved from City Hall to the city shop building at 804 S. D St.

“That’s how it is in other cities,” said Pal. “You have streets and engineering working together.”

Before coming to Oskaloosa, Pal worked in a public works office in Athens, Ga. He was also employed by a private company in Nashville, Tenn., after that.

Although Pal is familiar with nearly every aspect of the public works field, he said there is one area of maintenance that will be new to him — snow and ice removal.

“It snows once a year and they freak out,” said Pal of his public works experience in Georgia. “We had 1/8 inch of snow and it shut down the whole city for two days.”

Pal said he knows dealing with winter weather could prove challenging, but was assured he’d be up to that challenge.

For the time being, Pal is still getting used to the specific maintenance and engineering work that goes on in Oskaloosa every day, including street and building inspection. In the short term, Pal hopes to be able to simply satisfy the needs of Oskaloosa residents.

“There are things we need to work on like the streets and roads,” said Pal.

Before starting his career, Pal earned master’s degree in transportation engineering, something he had to come to the U.S. to obtain. Even before going to school for it, Pal said he had always been interested in engineering because it incorporates physics and the arts, two areas he found he was good in. In his spare time, Pal still enjoys pencil sketching and photography.

As far as family life goes, Pal is also working on getting things settled. His wife, Amrita Basu, works for the University of Georgia in Athens right now, but plans to move to Oskaloosa.

Pal said what he’s most looking forward to is interacting with Oskaloosa residents and doing all he can to meet their needs.

“I’m looking forward to working with the citizens and I’m very excited about the job,” said Pal.

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Herald City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at news2@oskyherald.com

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