Two on FWRC Executive Team Retire

Two members of the team that produces the Florida Water Resources Conference (FWRC) have retired from their positions. Scott Kelly was president of the board of directors and Holly Hanson was the executive director for FWRC.

Those who remain on the board, and the staff of FWRJ, wish them well as they pursue other interests.

It all began with me lying by the pool and being approached with, “You know Apple computers, right?” From that point on I was engaged in fixing registration computers and working the next two days at the 1998 FWRC in Ft. Lauderdale.

The next year the board of directors of FWRC approached me about outsourcing the registration portion, the following year I became the executive director, and the rest is history. I was happy to apply my computer, graphics, and administrative talents to shape, organize, and grow FWRC from 700 attendees to over 4,000.

According to Water Environment Federation statistics, FWRC is second in size for a joint water/wastewater event in the United States, trailing only a similar conference in California. “Leading the Nation in Water Innovation” wasn’t just a conference theme— it was a reality we made happen. The FWRC went from t-shirt poker parties to state-of-theart educational sessions with recognized and published industry leaders.

I am proud to say that in my more than 20-year career, we were able to distribute $2.5 million among the three member organizations that sponsor the conference—Florida Section American Water Works Association (FSAWWA), Florida Water Environment Association (FWEA), and Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association (FWPCOA)—for their educational and training purposes. The FWRC was instrumental in the continued growth of these three associations.

Some people thought my job was a “cake walk,” an easy job. The whole back of the house could be burning down, but by all appearances, it was normal at the registration desk, in the technical sessions, and on the exhibit floor. I’ve handled everything from stolen dentures to a zealot off the street arguing with me about water pollution and conservation. I’ve been spit on, cursed at, and called more inappropriate names then I care to recall.

There were some other tough times, too. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina decimated New Orleans, and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center became a shelter to house displaced residents, so other facilities in surrounding states were picking up their canceled events. Our contract was canceled in place of a bigger show, and that took weeks of phone calls, emails, and threatening letters until we were issued $30,000 in punitive damages for being relocated.

Another year, we were at a beautiful new hotel in Jacksonville, and had over 25 complaints, from eyeglasses being stolen to rooms being multiple-booked. Yes, conference attendees actually walked into their rooms and other people were already in bed there.

The most rewarding part though, has been all the acquaintances I’ve made along the way—many now good friends, and some became excellent mentors. Here I would like to thank Tom Baber for mentoring me the first few years and providing a wealth of historical information.

Scott Kelly, the FWRC immediate pastpresident of the board of directors of FWRC, was always available for guidance and advice, and never micromanaged me. I respected the responsibility given me, appreciated his and the board’s trust, and I nurtured FWRC with all the passion I could muster.

Many, many good people—Don Maurer, Bill Heller, Sean Gucken to name a few—were always kind and helpful. Tim Madhanagopal, FWRC’s new president, and I worked together for many years fashioning the technical program computer application. When COVID-19 paralyzed the nation in 2020 and cancelled FWRC that year (and in 2021), I was sickened at the course of events because many of our exhibitors I’ve known for years—even their spouses and children. It was difficult to maneuver through those months, and I am thankful we are seeing the light at the end of this ordeal. Only successful events ahead!

Retirement looks like lots of traveling, especially a road trip with my granddaughter, and time spent with grandkids. I love to paint, ride motorcycles, anything involving auto racing, and golf. I crushed this job for many years, worked hard, and gave it my all. “Coming in hot” is a racing term, and I had great passion for the Ops Challenge, Top Ops, and Student Design Competition.

My driving force is to “help the next person along.” I have always believed that “you will never know if you don’t try, so take that chance.” Be fearless!

Holly and Scott Kelly. On the golf course. Enjoying a new hobby.

In March of 2020 Scott Kelly, P.E., retired as assistant city administrator for the City of West Palm Beach, where he worked since 2013, and retired as president of the board of directors for FWRC earlier this year. He began his position on the board in 2003.

Kelly is now president of Scott Kelly Consulting LLC providing consulting services for water resources, transportation, construction, and related disciplines.

He began his career doing process engineering in the department of sanitary sewers for the City of Tampa in 1976. He was responsible for process operations for Tampa’s six wastewater treatment facilities and coordinated the plant start-up for the city’s state-of-the-art 60 million-gallon-per-day advanced wastewater treatment facility.

He then worked as an environmental engineer with Flood Engineers Architects Planners Inc. in Jacksonville, working on several water and wastewater treatment facilities in Florida. He was involved with the design and preparation of plans and specifications for various advanced wastewater treatment plants and pumping stations, and oversaw contract administration, construction inspection, and start-up of several facilities.

In 1983 he began working for City of Jacksonville as planning and engineering division chief and managing engineer, leading the planning and engineering of all water and wastewater facilities for the city and managing a 60-person team. He later became division chief for solid waste and deputy director for public utilities, and then division chief for collection and distribution, responsible for a staff of more than 400 in water distribution, sewer collection, water meters, and sewer pumping services.

Kelly moved to JEA in 1997, first as vice president for construction and management, where he led the group through a water and electric merger. He then became director for water and wastewater treatment, responsible for water, wastewater treatment, and reuse operations. His final position with the company was as vice president for water and wastewater systems, managing more than 400 workers and a $49 million annual budget, while setting direction that grew the company into the second largest water and wastewater utility in Florida.

In 2013 he began his assistant city administrator position at City of West Palm Beach. He was responsible for the public utilities, sustainability, parking, public works, and engineering areas, including operations, budget, environmental compliance, and asset management.

Kelly has a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and is a licensed professional engineer in Florida.

In addition to his work on the FWRC board, he is cofounder and Steering Committee chair of the Florida Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network (FlaWARN), on the board of directors of Florida Rural Water Association, and president of Grassy Waters Conservancy.

Kelly also founded World Water Alliance of Florida, a nonprofit responsible for the construction of more than $200,000 in water projects providing safe drinking water to hundreds of people in Honduras and Guatemala.

Kelly, as president of FWRC, and Holly Hanson, the executive director, grew the conference over the last 18 years into the second largest joint water and wastewater conference in the United States. During this time period, FWRC also returned more than $2 million back to the three member organizations for their education and training programs. S