Macon Times

Today marks the official end of a distinguished era in Monroe County with the retirement of longtime Road Superintendent Ira “Junior” Watts Jr.

Watts, who has worked for the Monroe County Road Department for more than 32 years, is retiring effective today (Monday, Oct. 17) after about six years as county road superintendent. About 50 of Watts’ co-workers celebrated his final day with a luncheon, featuring sandwiches, hors d’oeuvres and cake, in the Monroe County Board of Commissioners’ chamber. Commission Chairman Greg Tapley, District Commissioners John Ambrose and Eddie Rowland, and County Manager Jim Hedges each gave brief remarks thanking Watts for his outstanding service.

Although Watts made his retirement decision about a year ago, he said the reality of retirement has really set in over the past few weeks.

“The last couple of weeks I’ve lost a lot of sleep thinking about, ‘How am I not going to get up and go to work?’ Watts said. “I know I’m going to catch myself riding by and checking on the guys quite often.”

It’s Watts’ relationship with his road department staffers that he’s going to miss most in his retirement.

“I’m just going to miss the camaraderie I had with my guys. I’m going to miss that,” Watts said. “We knew everything about everybody, and you become a family. Everybody had everybody’s back. I’m proud of that. Our teamwork is second to none when it comes to storms. It’s more so now than it’s ever been.”

Watts, a Marshall, N.C. native, was hired in 1990 by then-Monroe County Road Superintendent Brack Goolsby as a right-of-way tractor operator. From there, Watts acquired his Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) to become a truck driver. He then serviced county equipment for several years before becoming a motor grader operator and eventually lead man, which is the second highest position in the department. After road superintendent Cliff Howard had to retire due to medical issues in early 2016, Watts was promoted to interim road superintendent. Watts then had the interim tag permanently removed by Commissioners in January 2017, and he has served as road superintendent ever since.

Watts credited Howard with making him his right-hand man and putting him in position for success.

“I was proud to get my shot at it (road superintendent) because he (Howard) knew I could pull it off, and I knew I could,” Watts said. “It was a hard road for a few months, but everything leveled out and it went good.”

Watts said his versatility and years of experience allow him to better relate to his employees.

“Every job the road department has to offer, I’ve got several years of experience in personally,” Watts said. “So therefore, I would never ask my guys to do something that I haven’t done.”

Watts said his most memorable work experiences usually involved natural disasters like the infamous Flood of 1994, which forced the road department to repair every cross drain in the entire county. Just in the six years that Watts has been road superintendent, the county has seen numerous tornadoes and hurricanes that have flooded or knocked down trees on county roads. In September 2020, major flooding caused North Rivoli Farms Drive to collapse, creating a 20-foot-deep hole in the ground and trapping at least eight families inside their subdivision. Watts’ road department crews worked for more than 24 hours straight to repair the damaged road.

“I’ll miss the adrenaline of getting out during floods, tornadoes, and ice storms and getting roads back open for public safety reasons,” Watts said. “When you clean up 500 miles of road after a hurricane comes through, that’s a sense of accomplishment. And the group of guys that I have put together over the course of the last six years, they are second to none as far as I’m concerned. When it comes to natural disasters, I wouldn’t want to have a tornado without them.”

Some other key accomplishments under Watts’ leadership were several Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) projects at the Monroe County landfill in which road department staffers lent their hands to perform hard labor, like moving a vast concrete pile to a designated site. Had the county hired an outside agency to perform those tasks, it would have cost the county over $1 million more than it did to rent some heavy equipment and have Watts’ crew do the jobs. Watts also was influential in the passage of the 2021 Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (TSPLOST) by providing numerous information sessions with local citizens and civic clubs concerning the penny tax.

Watts said his lone regret as road superintendent is that right-of-way and cost issues have prevented the resurfacing of McCowan Road under his watch, but that project is still on the docket for the future.

Just over a month ago, Monroe County County Manager Jim Hedges announced that Watts’ successor would be former Griffin public works director Chris Walker. Walker was given the title of Monroe County Public Works Director while Watts’ longtime lead man, Gary Futch, was promoted to Public Works Operations Manager.

Watts said he will help Walker in any way he can and said he’s proud of Futch’s continued success.

“I made Gary my lead man about four years ago, and he’s done an exceptionally good job,” Watts said. “He’s great with people, he’s great with the guys, and he’s good with public relations.”

In the meantime, Watts will get to relax a little after years of hard work. He plans to spend more time with wife Tammy, Monroe County’s Deputy Tax Commissioner, and son Jacy, 19, who is studying to become a computer programmer, while continuing to enjoy some of his favorite hobbies, which include fishing, collecting Native American arrowheads, and restoring guns. Watts said he has already received some part-time job offers and will mull them over in the coming months.

Monday’s party at the administration building was not the only celebration held in Watts’ honor. On Oct. 10, his road department staffers hosted a cookout at the road department office that was attended by about 100 friends, family, and co-workers. Chairman Tapley even cooked about two-dozen racks of ribs for the function.

“I had a great time. It meant a lot to me,” Watts said of the cookout. “Not too many people have the chairman of the Board of Commissioners get up at 4:00 in the morning for them.”

Not only was Monday Watts’ final day on the job, but it was also his birthday. Watts’ fond farewell will go on for at least one more day as Monroe County Commissioners will honor him at their next board meeting at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning with a proclamation designating Tuesday, Oct. 18 as “Ira Watts Jr. Day” in Monroe County.

Original source can be found here.