Harford County Executive Barry Glassman has named Bel Air resident William Bettin, P.E., the deputy director of Public Works where he will lead the Division of Water and Sewer, effective February 13, 2017. The Division serves more than 130,000 citizens of Harford County through the operation, maintenance, administration, planning and engineering of the public water and sewer facilities. As deputy director, Mr. Bettin will be responsible for planning, construction and maintenance of infrastructure to meet the needs of customers, delivering cost-efficient services, developing innovative and sustainable strategies and meeting regulatory requirements. Mr. Bettin is an accomplished engineer and leader with more than 25 years of experience in water treatment, water infrastructure, and environmental compliance projects in the United States and overseas.
As a professional engineer, Mr. Bettin served most recently with a consulting firm as a program manager where his duties included infrastructure assessment, master planning, design management and construction oversight for the city of Baltimore. While there, he streamlined processes to save the city $420K in program management costs in one year. He also built and led a consultant engineering design team to deliver water and sewer infrastructure projects for Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC).
Most of Mr. Bettin’s career involved 22 years of active military service, including five years as director of Environmental Health Engineering, U.S. Army Public Health Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground. In that capacity he successfully led a team of scientists and engineers to perform diverse public works and infrastructure services. Among more than 300 projects completed annually, he led a team to install mobile water packaging systems at military camps in the Middle East, reducing water supply costs by 500%. Earlier in his career, he won a competitive appointment as a U.S. military exchange officer, serving two years as an environmental health consultant to the Australian Defense Force in Canberra. Mr. Bettin has been honored with the Army Surgeon General’s award for exceptional professional ability in environmental science and engineering. He has also authored more than a dozen published articles, policy documents and technical reports and presented papers at state and national conferences in the United States and Australia.
Mr. Bettin earned a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from Colorado State University, Fort Collins; a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, with honors, from Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota. He has lived in Bel Air for 14 years with his wife, two sons, and a daughter.
“I am proud to have Bill Bettin join my administration,” said County Executive Barry Glassman. “He is eminently qualified to lead Harford County’s Division of Water & Sewer into the next decade.”
In accordance with the county charter, Mr. Bettin will serve in an acting capacity until his appointment is confirmed by the County Council.
