Public Works Director Receives National Award

From the City of Temple Terrace:

Director Robert Gordon has been selected for the Top 10 Public Works Leaders of the Year Award, presented by the American Public Works Association.

The award will be formally announced during National Public Works Week (May 20-26), and winners will be recognized at the association’s annual meeting in Anaheim, CA in August.

The award honors the career service achievements of individual public works professionals. In the 52 years that the association has presented the award, only 21 recipients have come from Florida.

“I am delighted, and grateful, to be recognized by my peers,” Gordon said. “It’s a great honor.”

Gordon, 59, was public works director for Hillsborough County before being named Temple Terrace’s public works director in January 2011. He also is chairman of the APWA’s national accreditation council.

Gordon received widespread recognition in 1999 when he oversaw the conversion of the old Gandy Bridge into the Friendship Trail Bridge spanning Tampa Bay. In Temple Terrace, Gordon has continued the award-winning work on the . And in February, the city was honored with the , beating more than a dozen regional water utilities in the annual water-quality contest.

Still, Gordon doesn’t plan to rest on his laurels, he said.

“Being recognized by your peers probably means more than anything else,” he said, “but while it’s great to be recognized, our intention is to continue bringing Temple Terrace Public Works up to an even higher level of excellence.”

The American Public Works Association is a non-profit international organization of more than 28,500 members involved in the field of public works. Its headquarters is in Kansas City, MO.