Gary Howard is the Chief Operator for the Scarborough Sanitary District in Scarborough, Maine. He is starting his 35th year in the wastewater field in June. In 1971 Mr. Howard finished his courses at the Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute, now known as Southern Maine Community College. Gary had his on the job training at the Scarborough Sanitary District, was hired and has been there ever since, in the process working his way up to chief operator. According to Mr. Howard, a chief operator at one facility is not the same as a chief operator in another facility. In Scarborough, Gary oversees pump stations, compost and secondary wastewater treatment.

Throughout the years Mr. Howard has seen MWWCA grow from a small organization of 12-13people who had meetings in rooms around the same size as his office, to the group that meets annually and is so large that they cannot introduce people by name during the meetings. In the late 70’s and early 80’sMr. Howard did some work with MWWCA. He was even vice president for a couple years, but he never made it to president.

Mr. Howard worked for Al Keene for a while and around 1976-77, he helped Keene start up the first MWWCA convention that had booths, vendors, and actually brought MWWCA out of debt. He tries to stay active, but he enjoys being behind the scenes. He's found that since the move to the "new" facility in 1984 he just got busy. Mr. Howard said that a couple annual meetings ago MWWCA members were asked how long they had been in the business, 20+ years raise your hands, 25+, 30+ and Howard said he got a little nervous because his hand was just about the last one up in the air. When he got started in1971, they were building wastewater treatment plants faster than they could staff them with certified operators. Joining the wastewater field seemed like a good way to continue his education and he was right. Keeping up with 18 credits every two years for the past 34 years, Howard's just about seen all the classes available. That is why he offers help to training groups like JETCC, to keep things interesting. Howard is also a member of Maine Rural Water, NEWEA and WEF.

When asked about challenges that he has faced, Howard said that every day has its obstacles. Some days are just a little more difficult than others. He likes to call it pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Howard said he was most proud of the fact that he has continuously been able to look ahead a few years and set goals and when the time comes, complete them.

Keeping costs down or cutting costs out in general is always something that the wastewater strives for. Mr. Howard says that they try to keep the cost down by performing a lot of tasks in house that might normally be put out to bid. The Scarborough Sanitary District has performed things like retrofitting pump stations and doing their own ad-ons to buildings. Mr. Howard said the credit should really go to the Board of Trustees. He said, "it’s nice to know that every one is looking toward the same direction, and the Board has a good idea of what needs to happen to achieve the goals that have been set."

Mr. Howard has also seen his share of upgrades in Scarborough. In 1984 Gary moved with the Sanitary District from a completely different building over to Black Point Road, and they are currently going through another upgrade. They are upgrading the SCADA system at all of the pump stations that will coincide with the upgrade that just happened at the sanitary district. They are also rebuilding three existing pump stations and adding a new pump station out on the Haigis Parkway.

In his spare time, Gary is an avid outdoorsman. Snowmobiling with his wife in the county is one of their favorite ways to pass the winter. Mr. Howard and his wife also enjoy camping during the summer. Up until recently he was big into boating and riding his motorcycle but he finds that he has been downsizing his toy collection. For the last 10-12 years he and his wife enjoy an almost annual trip to Myrtle Beach.