Destin Water Users (DWU) has announced a leadership change, with Monica Trammel Wallis stepping into the role of general manager after Lockwood Wernet retires after 25 years of service.
Wallis began with DWU in 2010 as the engineering manager before being promoted to operations manager in 2014. But her ties to the utility company go even deeper. Her grandfather, Jimmy Trammell, was a founding director of DWU when it was incorporated in 1963, and her mother, Sandy Trammell, has served on the company’s board of directors since 2006.
“My grandfather helped instill a good work ethic in me as a child and taught us about community, pride and hard work,” Wallis said in a news release.
Part of that “community and pride’ could be seen when Wallis, as a teenager, served as Miss Destin during the Destin Fishing Rodeo in 1993.
However, her service at DWU and following in the footsteps of those who have gone before is important.
“Continuing in their footsteps and helping chart a vision for a growing community with the most precious resource of water — what better way than to lead DWU and establish a legacy of reliable service and high-quality water to our customers, the residents and visitors of Destin,” she said in a release.
Wernet gave his stamp of approval of Wallis for the job.
“Monica is a natural born leader who possesses the knowledge, education, and experience to lead Team DWU into the future and the board of directors made the wise decision in appointing her as the next general manager,” Wernet said in a release.
Wernet began his career with DWU in March 2000 after being appointed to the DWU board of directors. He served as the chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee, secretary, treasurer, and vice president before joining the DWU team in 2010 as the assistant general manager and then promoted to general manager in April 2014.
During Wernet’s tenure, DWU has completed multiple projects and seen many improvements such as:
● The opening of a new wellfield and transmission line,
● Providing safe and reliable water supply to customers, as well as new wells, and water towers.
● Replaced aging and obsolete treatment equipment to expand capacity.
● The conversion of treatment disinfection process to improve public safety
● The construction of new hurricane-proof offices and warehouse space to ensure recovery efforts could be facilitated.
● The installation of automatic readers to improve the treatment process and response time.
“Not only did we invest in improving our equipment and facilities, but we also invested in the people who carry out the daily operations, so they are equipped to provide the highest level of service to our customers and community,” Wernet said in a news release.
Also, during the past 25 years, DWU has won several awards recognizing their outstanding staff, team of technicians, and facilities, including being named Tank of the Year in 2020, multiple Plant Operations Excellence Awards, and consecutive safety awards recognizing the employee-run safety program. Their wastewater operators participated in the Operators Challenge taking home multiple awards, and locally, DWU has won awards for their float entries in the annual Destin Christmas Parade.
“The awards we have displayed in our training building are a testament to their dedication and service and I am proud that I was able to help facilitate their success,” he said.
While Wernet is looking forward to his retirement and spending more time with family, the thing he will miss most about his time with DWU is the people he has worked with over the years and their shared goal of providing the best service to the community.
“I am most proud of the people I’ve worked with at DWU and their dedicated professionalism to serve the public health and safety of our community,” Wernet said.
This information was provided by Taylor Petrick of Proffitt PR.
This article originally appeared on The Destin Log: Destin Water Users welcomes new general manager, Monica Trammell Wallis, as Wernet retires
Reporting by Tina Harbuck, The Destin Log / The Destin Log
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