Rhett has been a practice leader for the firm’s Municipal group for over 10 years and leads the Detroit office. His engineering expertise complements his innate understanding of the function of local governments and their unique organizational needs—strengths which have made him an effective advisor to each municipal client over his 20-plus year career. His project work spans the spectrum from planning through completion in a wide array of disciplines including infrastructure, utility, transportation, and site improvements. Rhett has worked on every type of municipal project, including parks, utilities, facilities, major county roads, local roads, and major water and wastewater facilities.
This vast background has allowed Rhett to also represent municipal clients as their City/Township Engineer. He has worked with a number of communities to develop utility master plans, capital improvement plans, pavement management plans, and engineering standards. He’s also assisted municipalities with the evaluation of their infrastructure and the prioritization of capital investment needs, particularly for water and sewer system infrastructure. Rhett was instrumental on a project with the City of Detroit to bifurcate the Water Department and create the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), and then assisted the City in transitioning to the management and control of its local portion.
Rhett shares his knowledge widely and actively, having served as Vice Chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Professional Advisory Committee at his alma mater, Michigan Technical University, and as a former transportation engineering course lecturer at Lawrence Technological University. He has served on the Executive Board for the Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and been elected twice as Regional Governor. Locally, Rhett serves the Charter Township of West Bloomfield’s Zoning Board of Appeals and formerly, its Wetland Review Board.
Everything we do has an almost immediate positive impact on the quality of life for people in the communities we work. Whether they consciously acknowledge that or not, I love knowing that we have that impact, and fundamentally it is why I do it.
