In Jerry Mandli’s book, there are no “problems,” only “challenges.” For the last 30 years, he’s faced many of Dane county’s challenges, first as Solid Waste Manager, then as P.E. Commissioner of the Highway and Transportation Department.
Before his tenure in public service, however, Mandli was a little boy growing up in Portage, shoveling driveways and shearing Christmas trees. Now nearing retirement, these are years he remembers fondly.
Portage, the early days
The eighth of 10 children, Mandli’s family moved to Portage when he was a baby. His father served as the Athletics Director at the high school, as well as teaching and coaching, later being inducted into the Portage Hall of Fame. Mandli recalls seeing his father go off to work in the summertime, helping to write the Title 1 reading curriculum. One day, he asked him why he worked so hard when school wasn’t even in session.
People are also reading…
“He said ‘Jerry, the biggest indicator of whether someone will end up in the criminal justice system is whether or not they can read by the time they’re in third grade. What I’m trying to do is make it so that less kids will go to jail,’” recalls Mandli. “He really was a visionary from that standpoint, looking back. So education was always important to me.”
From his father’s example, Mandli learned the value in the “Midwestern work ethic,” adding integrity, preparedness, and innovative thinking to his toolbox. He also learned how to balance wearing multiple hats, a skill that would benefit him in his career.
Apart from his family life, Mandli cites his years in the Portage Community School District as a driving force in his success. He fondly remembers teachers and coaches, strong extracurricular programs and smart classmates. However, like many small-town kids, he had aspirations beyond Portage.
“I was just so ready to get out of Portage when I graduated, but as I look back now I just had such a great experience,” he said.
College, career beginnings
And get out is exactly what he did. First to UW-Madison, where he had a brief football career alongside his environmental engineering courses. While he wasn’t destined for the NFL, Mandli did manage to make a 39-yard field goal one spring, which was credited by announcers to a Fred Mandli. A simple mistake, but one that has followed him throughout the years.
“I get at least one birthday card or Christmas card every year that’s directed to Fred,” he said.
His resumé took him to upstate New York after college graduation, where he cut his teeth working for the public authority on development projects. Unwanted land, infrastructure, sewer, and expansion work were some of the many projects he took on.
“It was a very lean and mean staff,” he said of the coworkers with whom he worked on $90-$100 million worth of projects each year. “I learned a lot from the people I worked with.”
The last 30 years
In 1992, he carried that knowledge with him back to Wisconsin, when he took a solid waste management position with Dane County. Over the past 30 years, he’s pushed for environment-friendly, budget-conscious innovations in his many roles.
His days were busy with oversight, Mandli sitting at the helm of the Public Works Engineering Division, and all three Highway Divisions, as well as all of the operations for Dane County’s Solid Waste/Recycling Division. Managing landfill operations, compost sites, facility improvements, and maintenance, including road construction. He heard his fair share of public complaints, too.
“The only time that you really ever notice what the people who work for me do is when something doesn’t go right,” he said.
He and his wife of 34 years, Karin, have watched their family grow considerably, not just following the births of their four sons, but in the relationships Mandli has formed with the people he worked side by side with, fellow county employees, and even citizens he’s impacted.
“I’ve been really lucky to work with some really talented people,” he said. “When you’re in public service, I just don’t know how you can even ask for more than that, that’s what it’s all about.”
A curveball came at Mandli in March of 1997, in the form of a Hodgkins Lymphoma diagnosis. While he underwent treatment, he rarely missed a day of work. His strength, he said, was something he derived from his wife, his “rock.”
“She put us on her back and carried us,” he said. “She’s just amazing.”
Just a few years later in 2003, following some retirements at the county, Mandli took on roles in public works and the highway department, on top of his solid waste position. His workload, he recalls, became somewhat of a joke between himself and his wife.
“I was the man with three jobs and I got one salary,” he said.
These new responsibilities brought about in Mandli a heightened sense of pride in his work. This was his home, where his parents and nine siblings traveled the roads he oversaw.
“When your family is traveling on the roads you work on, you take great pride,” he said. “It’s another extra incentive.”
He saw much the same drive for success in the county’s plow and salt truck drivers, as unpredictable winters necessitated their frequent collaboration.
Mandli now looks at a diverse staff where previously he saw a “white male dominated” highway department. This, he attributes, in part, to an effort by himself and others at the county to help people in underrepresented categories get their commercial drivers licenses, particularly people of color.
“Diversity would be important to me in thought and the process of making it look more like our community,” he said.
The present
Mandli will officially hang up his many hats on March 17, 30 years and 261 days after his first day on July 6, 1993. In all its bittersweetness, Mandli says he’s looking forward to whatever comes next for himself and his family.
“I’m really excited for what my next chapter will be,” he said. “I’m trying not to hurt my arm patting myself on the back.”
