By DREYMA BERONJA

Journal Staff Writer

NEGAUNEE — A Michigan Tech alumnus is now serving the city of Negaunee.

Mark Daavettila, was appointed on Jan. 1 as the city’s Department of Public Works director and city engineer.

“Negaunee is hyper-focused on making repairs to our aging infrastructure,” Negaunee City Manager Nate Heffron said in a press release. “Having someone like Mark, that knows our systems well, will only improve our response time in fixing any issues of today and tomorrow.”

Daavettila holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from MTU and has 11 years of experience working in the civil engineering field. He is a licensed professional engineer in Michigan and recently worked for Upper Peninsula Engineers and Architects.

“I’m looking forward to performing engineering work for projects,” Daavettila said in an email.

He said his goals this year are to prepare detailed capital improvement plans for roads, water and sanitary sewer, perform front-end engineering work that will allow the city to evaluate project financial options, and provide engineering assistance to the city manager and staff.

Daavettila and his wife fell in love with the Negaunee and Marquette area and said their children love the Negaunee school system.

“We’ve been in Negaunee for nearly 10 years,” Daavettila said. “Every season is different in Marquette County and we enjoy every one of them.”

Daavettila assumed a leadership role with the Negaunee DPW on Nov. 18, 2020. Since that appointment, Daavettila has worked to help improve operations of the DPW over the last couple of years –specifically in the management of the department’s budget, improving efficiencies and moving the department toward modernization.

For more information regarding the DPW, contact Daavettila at 906-475-9991 or mdaavettila@cityofnegaunee.com.

Dreyma Beronja can be reached at 906-228-2500 ext. 248. Their email address is dberonj@miningjournal.net.