City’s public works director leaving for engineering firm

Indianapolis Department of Public Works Director Lori Miser is leaving Mayor Greg Ballard administration for a job in the private sector.

Miser will join the local office of Kansas City, Missouri-based engineering firm HNTB Corp. as associate vice president of planning, the mayor's office said Friday. Miser's last day will be Dec. 19. City Chief Engineer Andy Lutz will succeed her.

Appointed in March 2012, Miser oversaw much of the city's spending under Ballard's Rebuild Indy program, in which the city used proceeds of the half-billion-dollar sale of its water utility to Citizens Energy Group in order to repave roads, fix bridges and build bike lanes, among other infrastructure projects.

“Lori Miser contributed greatly to making Indy a better place to live by completing RebuildIndy and setting the stage for future investment through RebuildIndy 2,” Ballard said in a written statement. “Our city made unprecedented investments under Lori in streets, sidewalks, parks and neighborhood improvements, and will soon see extensive improvements to our drainage system that will benefit all of Marion County.”

Miser previously worked for HNTB, which played a major role in helping create a regional mass-transit plan known as Indy Connect, through the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Miser, who has also served as executive director of the MPO, worked at HNTB from 2004 to 2005. This time around, she will direct a group responsible for transportation planning, traffic engineering, environmental planning and project development, DPW spokeswoman Stephanie Wilson said.

Miser first worked in the DPW from 1990 to 2000. She rejoined the department in 2005 and served as executive director of the MPO before becoming director of the department.

HNTB helped MPO staff draft the Indy Connect plan and is currently the consultant for environmental work for the Green Line, planned between Noblesville and downtown.

Lutz's nomination as department director will be submitted to the City-County Council in January. He joined DPW in 2006 after working for the Kentucky Department of Transportation and Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
 
Melody Park, director in the Office of Sustainability, will assume the additional role of chief engineer. Before joining DPW in 2013, Park served as vice president/principal at RW Armstrong, where she managed large-scale projects, including construction of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.