Meet HdG's New Director Of Public Works

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — There is a new director in City Hall. Havre de Grace Mayor William Martin swore in the city's new Director of Public Works at Tuesday's council meeting.

"Teresa Gardner is one of the most qualified professionals in her field," Martin said.

Gardner — who was at one time the city of Salisbury's director of public works — has experience with both operations and infrastructure, he reported.

With an engineering degree from the University of Delaware, Gardner has decades of experience, particularly in transportation.

She has worked in the public and private sectors, for the Delaware Department of Transportation and as a safety engineer for a private engineering company, according to Delmarva broadcasting station WBOC. When she became the director of public works in Salisbury in 2009, she was the first woman there to hold that title, the station reported.

Upon leaving Salisbury's administration in 2013, she became a regional traffic engineer for the northwest regional office in the Virginia Department of Transportation.

In Havre de Grace, Gardner will oversee the department's divisions from wastewater treatment to park management to road maintenance.

She will also create a plan for infrastructure that is both short and long-term, according to the mayor.

"As we continue to make Havre de Grace a 21st-century city," Martin said, "it is important we have highly skilled and educated leaders like her to help guide our city into the future."

Gardner fills a vacancy that was left by Tim Whittie, who left the administration last month.

Photo courtesy of the city of Havre de Grace.