Iowa City public works director honored as national top 10

Iowa City Public Works Director Ron Knoche, who has worked in the city department for 25 years, this year was named one of the nation’s top 10 public works leaders of the year by the American Public Works Association.

The award is given to public works leaders who “embody professionalism, expertise and personal dedication to improving the quality of life in their communities through the advancement of public works services and technology,” according to a news release from the association.

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Nominees are submitted by leaders of local association chapters, and the winners are selected by previous recipients.

“The Iowa chapter gave me the nod this year, and asked me to put together the nomination papers and turn it in,” said Knoche, 51. “You put down your life career in 20 pages or less, get some recommendation letters and then send in the document.”

Knoche started his career with a summer job with the Cedar County Secondary Roads Department, which inspired him to study civil engineering at the University of Iowa. When he graduated in December 1996, he started a full-time position with Cedar County, where he worked until 1999.

He started working as a civil engineer in Iowa City when a position opened in 1999. He already was living in Iowa City with his wife, who teaches math at Iowa City High School, and had been commuting to Tipton for work.

In 2001, Knoche was promoted to senior engineer, and in 2003 became a city engineer. He became the public works director in 2015, a role he hopes to keep until he retires.

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As the Iowa City public works director, Knoche oversees the city’s engineering, equipment, resource management, streets, wastewater and water divisions. He manages 160 permanent employees and has an annual salary of $181,251.20.

“When you turn the tap on in the morning to brush your teeth, when you flush the toilet, when you throw away garbage, and then drive into work, the team that works with me touches that every day,” Knoche said. “Every day is different. It’s never the same.”

Some of Knoche’s favorite projects he’s worked on in the city have been a railroad grade separation project on First Avenue — in which the railroad was lifted over the road to prevent long wait times on the street for a train to pass — and building a new public works facility for the city.

“It was a game-changer in regard to how we provide services,” Knoche said.

Knoche said he was honored to receive the nomination from the Iowa chapter, and humbled when he found out he had won.

“Although my name is on the award, and I’m the one that’s been called it, it’s really all the folks that have been a part of my career and the team that I work with now that makes that possible,” Knoche said.

“I’m just one person and I’m not the one out in the field doing the work,” he said. “I’m helping guide them and giving them guidance, and supporting them from a budgetary standpoint and fighting for them that way, but it’s really the team of folks that work with me that has gotten me to that point.”

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