Susan Pekarek, who has shepherded Johnson County through two of its largest building projects, will retire as general manager of Johnson County Wastewater on Thursday, Oct. 1.
County commissioners bid Pekarek farewell last Thursday, praising her leadership of a department that two commissioners have whimsically referred to as the “Disneyland” of wastewater because of its many awards for clean water standards and major modernization projects.
Pekarek has been with the county wastewater department for 25 years and was general manager for the past 10. During that time, she’s overseen a major expansion of the Tomahawk Wastewater Treatment Plant, an improvement county officials have credited with saving customers millions per year.
The Tomahawk plant, in Leawood, was a $334 million project brought on because the 1955-era original facility was becoming too small to handle the increasing population. To keep up, about 60% of the incoming flow had to be diverted to Kansas City, Missouri’s facilities at an additional cost. At the same time, federal and state environmental standards for ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus discharge were being stiffened, underlining the need for more modern water treatment methods.
The ribbon was cut on the Tomahawk in 2022, and the county no longer diverts wastewater to Kansas City.
Up to that point, the Tomahawk plant had been the county’s largest project, but shortly after, it was surpassed by the modernization at the 1940s-era Myron K. Nelson Wastewater Treatment Facility in Mission, which weighed in at about $610 million.
Pekarek’s leadership was praised in both those projects for finding millions of dollars in cost savings on the construction.
Commissioner Michael Ashcraft called the “flawless rebuilding” of theTomahawk plant the county’s “crown jewel” and lauded its benefit to ratepayers. “The water that now comes out of there is every bit as pristine as can possibly be imagined and that, my good lady, is because of you.”
Commissioner Shirley Allenbrand also praised Pekarek and her organization. “You do have a good team and we’ve seen that in savings of millions of dollars – millions, not just thousands.”
Allenbrand and Ashcraft at times called the department a “Disneyland” among wastewater utilities for the efficiencies in its operation and its environmental track record.
Chair Mike Kelly noted that the department is about a third of the county budget. “The major investments that have been made under your tenure, those are billions of dollars spent that will improve lives for decades to come,” he said.
The wastewater department has received numerous national awards including five Peak Performance awards from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies and one from the national Engineering News Record magazine for best project for water and the environment in 2024.
Pekarek thanked her team and the county commission and others who had supported her. She joined the county wastewater department in 2001 as a project engineer and became general manager in 2016. She was the first woman to be wastewater general manager in the county and is one of only a few to run a public utility nationwide, said County Manager Penny Postoak Ferguson.
On retirement, Pekarek said she plans to farm with her sister in Brown County, Kansas, near where they grew up.
Chief Engineer Tami Lorenzen will be the interim general manager of the department.
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