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Kent Wager 1941 – 2020

The Florida Section AWWA lost a family member when Kent Wager passed away on September 5. He was the father of FSAWWA’s current chair, Kim Kowalski, and was the one who encouraged her to become an active member of the section, for which it’s grateful.

Kent Kinsey Wager, 79, passed away at his residence in Marble, N.C. He was a native of Davenport, Iowa, but moved to Phoenix at a young age, which he considered home.

Kent joined the U.S. Navy, where he became a radar operator. He was a Vietnam-era veteran, stationed in the Philippines and Japan. Kent began his career as a polyvinyl chloride pipe salesman before establishing his own manufacturer’s representative firm, Wager Company of Florida Inc., while living in Lake Mary. He had been an active member of FSAWWA for 31 years.

Kent was highly regarded among others in the industry. He took so many people under

The City of Melbourne has hired David Wilkison, P.E., to serve as its new city engineer. Wilkison has more than 37 years of civil engineering and management experience. Prior to coming David Wilkison to the city, he was an engineering manager with DRMP. Previously, he served as Collier County’s growth management department head and has held management positions at several consulting firms in Florida.

He has a strong background in civil his wing and was thought of as an icon in the waterworks industry. He was a standing member of both the Florida and North Carolina AWWA sections and a member of the FSAWWA Manufacturers/Associates Council (MAC).

The section echoes the words of Bob Claudy, FSAWWA past chair, who stated, “Kent was truly a gentleman and a great human being. He was a true friend of the waterworks industry and AWWA. It was a privilege to have known him and I know he loved Kim with all his heart.”

Another past section chair, Rick Ratcliffe, said, “I had the pleasure of knowing Kent for 41 years. He was a great family man and incredibly involved in FSAWWA. When the Florida MAC was formed 24 years ago, Kent was one of the founding members and he served on several of its committees. He was always the first one to volunteer his service. It didn’t matter what the task might be, you could always count on Kent participating. He believed in the section’s mission statement. He was also very involved in the MAC New Products Technology Council, and shared

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engineering, capital improvement budgeting, and staff management. He holds a bachelor of science degree in environmental engineering from University of Florida and is a Florida registered professional engineer.

As city engineer he will oversee all aspects of the city’s engineering department, including construction plan review, stormwater utility billing, capital improvement projects, traffic engineering, abandon and vacate requests, addressing right-of-way use permits and agreements, water authorization, impact fee calculations, and maintenance of traffic for special events.

The department is also responsible for the city’s transportation, intersection and

his knowledge by discussing new products with a class in order to help the registrants receive their continuing education unit credits for the course from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. During one assignment, he taught for three straight days. I thank Kent for his service; his dedication made MAC and the section better.”

He was the son of the Jack Kinsey and Evelyn Mae Boldt Wager. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a brother, Steve Wager.

Kent is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Marilyn, of Marble; two daughters: Marilyn Golden (Danny) of Clearlake, Calif., and Kim Kowalski (Scott) of Sanford; three sons: Frank Hill (Jamie) of Groveland; Kurt Wager (Maryann) of Yuba, Calif.; and Rusty Hill (Olivia) of Altamonte Springs; one sister: Shari Farley of Nevada City, Calif.; 14 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held on December 5 at the Omni Championsgate Resort.

Kent (left) at his company’s booth at an FSAWWA

conference. signalization, stormwater utility, and sidewalks and bikeways programs.

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Hach announced that it has partnered with 120Water to offer its customers an end-to-end solution for lead and copper compliance testing. A digital water platform, 120Water is in use at more than 180,000 locations across the United States, which simplifies in-home drinking water program management.

This partnership enables Hach to offer the 120Water digital water platform as an additional service to its existing and new customers. The platform consists of water sample and filter kits, cloud-based software, and services used to Continued on page 56