Richard Prima will retire in April after working as the city of Lodi Public Works director. (Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel)

Prima, longtime Lodian, to retire after 33 years of service with Public Works

Three months from now, Richard Prima will file away his city sewer maps, and his reams of reports on transit and groundwater contamination.

He'll walk outside City Hall — after more than three decades of keeping water flowing, streets shining and buses rolling — and retire.

But the longtime Public Works chief won't slow down.

"I want to get to Italy," Prima, 58, said Monday, hours after the city announced his retirement plans. "I want to drive around and see this country. Be able to get in the car and go. ... I am not going to sit and watch TV. I'm going to do stuff."

Longtime friends and colleagues said the city will miss Prima when he retires April 6. They, too, noted that Prima won't sit still during his golden years.

Instead, several said, he'll likely tackle the next phase of his life with as much vigor and intellectual interest as he did during his 33 years at Public Works.

"He's somebody who studies something almost to a fault, but you can't argue with the results," said City Councilman Larry Hansen, who has worked with Prima since 1975, and praised him for his leadership on several key public works projects.

Hansen said Prima has taken the lead on plans to clean up the city's groundwater contamination, to build a new water treatment plant and upgrade the sewer plant.

The city will lose both Prima's knowledge and his ability to clearly explain very technical processes to city leaders, Hansen noted.

"That's going to be very difficult for us to replace," he added.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, with a degree in civil engineering, Prima worked for a year with Pacific Gas and Electric Company before joining the city as a junior engineer.

During his time at Public Works, he was promoted four times, the last to the director's post 10 years ago.

Prima said he's been proud of numerous accomplishments during his tenure, from the remake of Downtown, to designing better storm drains, to establishing a strong relationship with the City Council.

The work hasn't always been easy for Prima, a Stockton native. The rules for keeping a city running have gotten more complex with time, he said.

Funding is no longer guaranteed for many public works projects like it was in the 1970s and '80s, he said. It's now a competitive process in which departments must apply for the money.

That means work like street maintenance — repairing pot holes, sidewalks and medians, and taking care of city trees — will be more difficult to fund.

"We are reaching the (end of the) life cycle of many of our streets, and the need is going to surpass the money," he said, seated at a round table in his office, with a map of the city's sewer and water pipes draped over the table.

"That's part of what makes people feel good about a place that they live in: if it looks nice," he said. "The money is going to get tighter and tighter."

Paula Fernandez has worked with Prima since he hired her in 1985 as a junior engineer.

She said she has seen Prima mature as a manager, taking a more hands-off approach in later years.

With particular projects, however, he still has a zest for the details, said Fernandez, now a senior traffic engineer.

"He's got an engineering mind. You're not going to take that away from him," she added.

After a bit of traveling, Prima said he's looking forward to a list of projects at home.

He plans to finish some flooring work and build a few cabinets for a home entertainment center. He'll also continue his woodturning hobby, an activity that requires him to use a lathe — or machine tool that spins wood that can then be shaped.

Though he's had frustrations in his career — like not being able to convince the council to require water meter installations sooner — and felt overwhelmed at times on the job, Prima said he's content with his career.

He said he'll likely consider part-time consulting work in the private sector, or perhaps back at City Hall if needed on a specific project.

"It's been really gratifying," Prima said of his time in Lodi. "This has been a good community to be a part of. The community supports most of the stuff we do. It's just been a good place to have a career and raise a family."

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.