Jon Beers to leave position as City of Lebanon Authority director at year end

On Dec. 31, Jon Beers will step down as executive director of the City of Lebanon Authority (CoLA), a position he’s held since the authority’s establishment in 2007.

Under his leadership, the authority has added 95 miles of water mains to its distribution system, expanded its water storage capacity by 3 million gallons, and upgraded its wastewater treatment plant to lower discharges of nitrogen and phosphorous into the Quittapahilia Creek and, ultimately, the Chesapeake Bay.

Nearing completion are additional improvements to the wastewater treatment plant to expand treatment capacity and replace outdated equipment.

Beers’ impact has not only been on CoLA’s infrastructure. He’s staffed CoLA’s departments – water, wastewater, engineering – with directors and given them decision-making responsibilities. He’s also instituted operational efficiencies, so that CoLA operates with fewer employees per customer than ever.

“I love hiring new young people and teaching them about what we do and watching them grow into their positions,” he said. “It takes five years to get a good handle on how this place operates.”

What he won’t miss is second-guessing his decisions.

“There’s a constant pressure of keeping up and worrying if you are making the right decisions,” Beers said. “I am looking forward to not having to worry about it.”

Beers started his career in water and sewer in 2001 when he became Lebanon city’s director of public works. In that position, he managed the highway, traffic, and zoning departments and, when needed, drove a snowplow, a perk as Beers confessed to liking “big equipment.”

Within weeks of his appointment, Beers faced an unimaginable nightmare as public water systems across the country went on high alert after the Sept. 11 attacks. Of concern was possible terroristic contamination of the reservoir at the Siegrist Dam.

CoLA staff monitored the dam 24/7, watched water coming into the treatment plant for possible contaminants, and stayed in contact with the state Department of Environmental Protection, Beers said.

Before that threat completely subsided, Beers had another challenge: A sinkhole developed on Pershing Avenue, collapsing the street and threatening a house. Within hours, the sinkhole had grown to a 30-foot diameter before it was stabilized.

In 2007, when CoLA began managing its own employees, Beers encountered a different kind of challenge: namely, how to set up the authority’s pension plan, insurances, organizational structure, and union contract.

“When the city hired me, my predecessor Ed Keener sat me down and said, ‘Jon, I hope you know what you’re getting into,’” Beers recalled.

While he can admit now that he didn’t know, he clearly figured it out.

Beers’ inner engineer was evident from an early age. As a kid growing up in Myerstown, he was always “tinkering with stuff, trying to figure out how things worked,” he said. He channeled that into model railroading, learning the basics of design and construction (today he’s on his fifth train layout, each one becoming more complex technically).

At Penn State, he studied mining engineering and thought he’d work in the coal industry. But as a junior, he landed an internship at Lancaster-based Rettew Associates, which offered him a full-time job after graduation.

His first stint in the public sector came when he was project manager/engineer at the Lancaster County Solid Waste Authority, where he oversaw the renovation of the transfer station and construction of a new landfill. That led to a position at the Greater Lebanon Refuse Authority.

He took a five-year hiatus to try life in the private sector but then found his way back to what was a more natural fit – municipal authorities.

“What I like about authorities is you get to design it, bid it, construct it, run it, and then finetune it to make it better,” he said.

Marty Yocum, chairman of the CoLA board since 2008, said Beers will be missed.

“Jon is dedicated to CoLA’s customers and deals with the difficult calls and most difficult situations himself,” Yocum said. “I don’t know what we would have done without Jon. He’s a smart guy, always prepared, always a pleasure to work with.”

Beers counts CoLA’s low turnover of employees as one of his successes as the authority’s day-to-day leader. But also high up on the success list is CoLA’s consistent record of safeguarding customers’ drinking water.

Access to high quality and abundant drinking water is typically taken for granted until a water main or service line break suddenly shuts it off and the tap goes dry. Replacing and repairing those pipes is the major driver of rate increases, Beers said.

“Much of our infrastructure – what delivers water and takes it away as wastewater – is 50 to 100 years old,” he added. “And replacement costs continue to increase.”

While Beers will step down as CoLA executive director, he won’t step away until the end of April. But his career in public service will continue; Beers is in his second term as a South Lebanon Township supervisor.

“He is very valuable to our board because of his engineering background and extensive knowledge about so much – not just sewer and water but other issues important in local government,” said Jamie Yiengst, South Lebanon Township manager, who has worked with Beers since 2018.

“He always brings a level-headed and reasonable approach to issues and takes the time to ask questions, so he’ll have a good understanding before forming an opinion. It is apparent that he became a supervisor because he cares about his community,” she said.