After 24 years of serving the city, Columbia Director of Utilities Dave Sorrell will retire on March 14. As director, Sorrell oversees the sewer, stormwater, solid waste, electric, water and railroad divisions.

“I will miss the people more than anything,” Sorrell says in a city news release announcing his retirement.

Sorrell started working for the city in 2001 as a civil engineer in the Public Works Department. He was then promoted to an engineer for Columbia Water and Light. In 2010, Sorrell became sewer utility manager, maintaining and operating Columbia’s wastewater treatment plant, the sewer collection system and the constructed wetland treatment units. He was reclassified as an engineering manager in the Public Works Department in 2012, overseeing the stormwater division and engineering projects for both sewer and stormwater divisions.

Sorrell was promoted to assistant director of utilities in 2015 and was named director of utilities in March 2020.

“It has been a pleasure to serve the customers of the City of Columbia’s utility divisions for over two decades,” Sorrell says in the release. “I have witnessed many changes for the City during this time and I am proud to have participated in many.”