An always-changing job.
That’s what Jerry Matthews liked best about his nearly 25 years with the City of Sweet Home, the bulk of those years as a water treatment operator.
“It’s an interesting job. There’s always something new to learn,” Matthews said Thursday after fellow workers helped him celebrate retirement. ”
Matthews said his job has “changed in 100 ways, now more than ever. Engineers are constantly dreaming up ways to treat water.”
Matthews and his wife Barb moved to Sweet Home from San Jose, Calif. in 1970.
“The crime problem just kept getting worse down there,” Matthew said. “My parents had moved up here. We really didn’t think we wanted to live right on them, but I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else.”
Matthews worked a short time at TOMCO mill, then in mid-1970 joined the city crew.
“At that time, you worked where ever you were needed at the time,” Matthews said. “Shortly after I was hired, the city built a new wastewater treatment plant and I worked there and because I had already been to some schooling, I was like the chief operator. Later, I shifted to the water treatment plant.”
In 1980 Matthews took a job in Lebanon for one year, then spent four years in Cottage Grove.
In 1985 he got the chance to return to Sweet Home and has enjoyed it since.
“Our water output has nearly doubled since then,” Matthews said. “In the winter we used to treat bout 500,000 gallons. Now we treat about one million gallons. There’s so much to learn, especially about chemistry.”
The Matthews reared three children in Sweet Home, daughters Teri and Lori still live here. Their son, Jerry, lives in Roseburg.
Matthews enjoys fishing, hunting, hiking and playing in his garden.
Now that he’s retired, he plans to “kick back, relax a little and fish more.”
Working for the city has been a good job, Matthews said. He would like to see the city consider developing a regional water treatment plant based near Foster Dam.
“I’ve suggested this for 15 years,” Matthews said. “I really believe we need to build a regional plant that would serve Sweet Home, Waterloo and Lebanon. It makes sense and could be done efficiently.”