After the workday ends today, Harrisburg Water, Sewer and Flood Control Superintendent John Owens will step away from his position and another veteran worker in the department, Raymond Gunning, will take over.
Harrisburg City Council named Gunning to the position Thursday after a short closed session of council.
Mayor Valerie Rose Mitchell said Owens, a 23-year city employee, had resigned the position.
Owens has not left the city labor force. On Monday morning, he returns to the sewage treatment plant as an operator, the position he held in May 2008 when he was selected by the mayor to replace Ron Fearheiley.
During his superintendency, Owens has been enmeshed in the broad measure of work the city has been handling as part of the recovery from the flood of the spring of 2008.
During his last moments on the job, Owens delivered a detailed report to council on the many aspects of work on the levee and pump stations under way by city workers in order to complete a two-fold objective, getting the levee certified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and getting a new mapping of flood-prone areas of Harrisburg completed by the Corps.
Since a visit to the city by a cadre of 13 corps of engineer specialists, requests and demands on the city have been heavy.
