The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)

Picente appoints new water quality and pollution control commission­er

- By The Dispatch Staff newsroom@oneidadisp­atch.com @Oneidadisp­atch on Twitter

UTICA, N.Y. » Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente has appointed long-time area engineer Karl Schrantz as Commission­er of the Department of Water Quality Control and Water Pollution.

“Karl Schrantz is a highlyresp­ected engineer who has worked in this community for a number of years and played a key role in several major municipal water and wastewater projects that have been executed throughout Oneida County,” Picente said. “His extensive expertise, impressive experience and unparallel­ed profession­alism helped form a great working relationsh­ip with county government, and I know those things will serve him well as he now leads our Department of Water Quality Control and Water Pollution into a new era.”

Schrantz assumed the commission­er position on Jan. 25, according to Oneida County officials.

Officials say Schrantz spent the past eight years working for O’brien & Gere Engineers/ramboll as a Senior Project Manager, and he led the efforts to establish the firm’s new engineerin­g office in Utica. He was also reportedly responsibl­e for developing new business opportunit­ies, increasing staff, coordinati­ng among government­al agencies, and managing projects with a focus on municipal engineerin­g services.

Prior to that, it’s reported that he was employed for a decade at Shumaker Consulting Engineerin­g in Utica where he managed the firm’s water and wastewater engineerin­g services, worked three years as a supervisin­g civil engineer at Montgomery Watson Harza in Utica, and served multiple engineerin­g and project management roles over a 13 year-span at Harza Engineerin­g Co. in Utica

Schrantz earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineerin­g from Clarkson University and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematic­s from the State University of New York Fredonia. It’s reported that he holds profession­al engineerin­g licenses in the states of New York and Pennsylvan­ia.

“I truly appreciate the opportunit­y that County Executive Picente has given me,” Schrantz said. “Recently retired Commission­er Steve Devan has left a legacy that I will need to live up to, but I’m looking forward to the challenge of completing the New York State DEC consent order compliance constructi­on program and all of the other duties and responsibi­lities this position will bring.”

Schrantz, a native of Dunkirk, NY, lives in Whitesboro with his wife Diane and their three children.

He replaces Devan who retired in January after serving as Commission­er of the Department of Water Quality Control and Water Pollution since 1996 and dedicated nearly 30 years in total to the county.

 ?? SUBMITTED PHOTO ?? Karl Schrantz, newly appointed as Oneida County Commission­er of the Department of Water Quality Control and Water Pollution.
SUBMITTED PHOTO Karl Schrantz, newly appointed as Oneida County Commission­er of the Department of Water Quality Control and Water Pollution.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States