Jefferson City Engineer Jon Fitch is getting back to his roots.
Fitch started with the city in July, but is far from a newbie in government engineering projects.
Rather, working for Jefferson City is his retirement job.
With almost 30 years at the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Fitch knows his way around engineering documents.
"About the time I was retiring from DNR, this position with the city opened, and I wasn't ready to retire. Just move on to something new," he said. "I applied for it because I thought it would be a good fit."
During his time with DNR, Fitch worked in environmental compliance, reviewing proposals for sewer lines, wastewater plants, air pollution sources and landfills.
After about eight years focused on that, Fitch said, he moved to Missouri State Parks - which is part of DNR - where he became the person submitting wastewater treatment and plant sewage proposals to bring parks into compliance.
"Then I ended up being head of their Planning and Development program, which is the equivalent of a public works department for Missouri State Parks," he said.
While everything he's done circles back to engineering, Fitch said it's nice to be putting pencil to paper again.
At the core, he said, an engineering job is about finding solutions for people.
"I really enjoy the engineering side of it," he said. "The best part there's a problem that needs to be solved, and I get to do it like a puzzle and figure out how to solve it. I've always enjoyed problem solving."
Fitch said he's still on the learning curve because state and local government work differently. But, he's enjoyed learning so far.
He's working on a couple stormwater projects, Fitch said, preparing projects for bidding.
"It's been kind of fun," he said. "I've already bid one project out completely, and it's in construction. I'm in the middle of bidding a small project right now and some of the bigger projects are coming up. Getting that crank going and getting these projects out, it's very satisfying."
Fitch is the father of three - one a senior in high school and the other two in college. He's lived in Jefferson City since 1989.
Engineering runs in the family. Fitch's wife and father are engineers, and his two sons plan to be.
When not working, he enjoys paddling, fishing and helping his mom on her property.