January 29, 2024 • 13 mins
Louis Andres was named Mansfield's Public Works Director in January of 2024. Andres was known locally for a long time as the park manager at Malabar Farm State Park. Louis spent over 30 years working for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Andres was born in Middletown Ohio, near Cincinnati, and is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford. Louis Andres is married with 3 kids and several grandchildren. Learn more about Louis and the job duties of the Public Works Director on the podcast.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO Louie Andress, Mansfield'spublic Works Director. Today we're going
to shine the spotlight on the cityof Mansfield. They have a brand new
public Works director, a familiar nameto many of those here in the community.
(00:23):
Joining us is Louie Andress. Louisfirst of all, thanks for taking
time. How you doing today,I'm doing great. Thanks for the imitation.
Absolutely many people know you, andwe'll get to your background a little
bit. But let's begin. AmI right you were just recently named public
Works director. Correct, Yes,that's true. I'm in my fourth week
(00:43):
now learning the ropes and kind oflearn a little bit more about the city
government here in Mansfield and just kindof going around and visiting each one of
the department heads that I'm responsible forand just kind of get a good field
what needs are out there and whatthings we can do differently to improve our
performance to our citizens here in Maninsfield. Now, as somebody here's the job
(01:04):
title public Works director, can youkind of give us an overview. You're
in charge of a lot. Giveus kind of what your job is and
kind of what you oversee. Yeah, it's one of the bigger part of
the departments. As far as thenumber of people that report to me.
There's thirteen different public works departments andthey include the airport out at Mansfield Long
(01:27):
and includes building and codes when wego and inspect something as far as water
plumbing and buildings, the Clear ForkReservoir that we have out there, that's
our drinking water supply in our campingarea, and things of that nature.
Engineering, our building maintenance here atthe building, the City building, the
City Parks and Recreation, the CityRepair Garage, which we do all the
(01:49):
repair work for all the city vehicles. That includes police, fire, and
all the utilities and everything. Alsosewer repair, streets and signals, utility
collects, water repair, waste waterand drinking water treatment facility. So there's
a lot encompassing as far as publicWorks department. Yeah, that is a
lot to oversee, and I'm surethere's a lot of people that report to
(02:12):
you right on a daily basis tokind of, you know, keep things
running. Yeah, there's probably abouttwenty to twenty five different department heads and
superintendents that we report and we meeton a regular basis just to kind of
communicate and keep things going together.But yeah, it's quite a large undertaking
and a lot to include as faras some of the city facilities. We
are hearing the voice today of LouisAnders again, who has just recently named
(02:37):
the new public works director in theCity of Mansfield. Now, in terms
of something for you on a dailybasis, I'm sure it changes. Because
you mentioned, you know, youknow, thirteen different public works departments.
I'm sure you're you're all over townright on a daily basis. Yeah,
I mean, like right now,most of our interests are people calling in,
whether it's snowplowing, water main breaks, different things with utility collections,
(03:01):
people have issues or something they wantto do with the parks. So a
lot of community engagement because a lotof things that we do affect everybody every
day. So it's really important forus to communicate back and forth and be
able to be attentive to those cityfolks that have issues or want us to
get involved and help them with somesituations. Lewis, you mentioned, you
(03:23):
know, you know, being youknow, good communication with people. The
City of Mansfield website CI dot Mansfielddot oh dot us. If they go
to that website, and I believethat's recently been revamped. Looks pretty good.
I'm on the public Works page rightnow. You can actually go through
and get information how to contact eachdepartment, right, that's correct. We
(03:45):
just revamped well, when new administrationcome in with Mayor Perry, we thought
it was imperative that the website reflectcurrent information and information that people would need
to get to the right departments.So within the last couple of weeks we
have revised that and added new contactsand trying to make it user friendly.
So when I first was appointed adirector, that's the first place I went
(04:09):
to was the website to find outexactly what my job was going to be
entail and all that, and itreally was not updated. So that was
one of the first things I didwas try to get the most current,
updated information. Heers when our citizensor visitors from outside the city want to
learn more about Mansfield, that theyhave a good resource to go to.
You're hearing the voice today of LouisAndris again. Who is Mansfield Public Works
(04:32):
Director? Now, let me askyou since we're here in winter time and
knock on wood, we haven't hadtoo much snow, but there was some
Recently, everything seemed to go prettywell in terms of snow removal, sold
all those kind of things. Yeah, we were prepared for it. I
mean, we were able to getsome new trucks and stuff with the ARPA
money that the city received, andwhen Mayor Perry came in, we sat
(04:55):
down with the superintendent, Steve Brown. We came up with a plan that
we we wanted to address the issues. So when we did have a snow
event or ice event or something likethat, that we were prepared and we
had a game plan, and we'vemade a little bit of changes and things,
but for overall, we just wantto be responsive and be out there
with our trucks and doing what weneed to do to keep those streets open
(05:17):
and safe. All right, Well, let's find out a little bit more
about you personally. Again. You'rehearing the voice today of Louis Andres,
this week's CEO. You should knowhe's the new public works director in Mansfield.
Louis. Many people may know you, but those that don't, let's
go back to the beginning. Couldyou tell us where was Louis Andres born.
I was born in Middletown, Ohio, which is just north of Cincinnati,
(05:40):
in between Cincinnati and Dayton, andwent to school Filwick High School,
then went to Miami University in Oxford, and then my first job out of
college there was being a park rangerat East Fork State Park, which is
in southern Ohio here Cincinnati, ClaremontCounty. And then I've had a long
career thirty three years with the OhioDepartment at Resources under Parks. Eventually started
(06:05):
in southern Ohio and eventually ended upall the way up to Lake Erias.
I'd moved with all my promotions andthings from south of southern Ohio all the
way up to a lake erie atCleveland Lake Front when it was a state
park there. Now for people thatdon't know, how did you make it
to the Mansfield area, Well,I was offered a position at Malibar Farm
(06:26):
as the park manager, and Iaccepted that position in nineteen ninety two.
So I arrived there in early Aprilof ninety two and was charged with getting
things taken care of at Malabar.There was some kind of controversy on how
things were being done, so Iwas brought in to kind of get the
community together, get a plan togetherto turn around at least Malabar Farm and
(06:48):
make sure that we were meeting theneeds of the community and having some community
involvement and making some good decisions thatwould be good for the park in the
long term. Things I was ableto do while I was there. Some
of the things that were most notedfor was the barn raising that we had
there for the barn. We alsobuild a visitor center, new visitors center,
(07:09):
did some improvements. One of thethings they started was the Malibar Farm
Foundation, which has been instrumental inhelping provide some support and some funding for
some projects that the state of Ohiowasn't able to do. Louis, how
long were you at Malabar. Iwas at Malabar for about twenty three years
as the park manager, and thenI got promoted to the district manager,
(07:31):
which oversaw Mohican, Malabar and FinleyState Parks in my region. Then I
was promoted to a regional manager,which is the Northeast district, and that
added Cleveland Lake Front and Headlands Beachand those areas up and there so went
all the way from Mansfield all theway to Lake Erie was part of my
region. When I was in theParks. All right, Louis Andris with
(07:55):
us today. He is Mansfield's publicWorks director. So let's get the story.
You know, all those with theOhio Department of Nancial Resources. How
did you make it to being nowMansfield's public works director? How did this
come to be? It was kindof Jody or Mayor. Jody called me
up and offered me the position.So I sit down with her for several
(08:16):
hours and talking, discussing, youknow, what our values ideas, but
I could bring to the team,and I felt very comfortable talking with the
mayor and decided this might be anopportunity for me to bring some of my
expertise and stuff in state government andbring it over here and try to make
an impact and make a difference forthe city of Mansfield here. All right,
(08:39):
Well, glad to learn the storythis morning of Louis Andrews. While
we're on the topic of you,I don't know, married kids, anything
like that. Tell us more aboutLouis and the family. Yeah, I'm
married and we have three kids.All three kids currently live out in California.
They all eventually ended up out there, and I have five grandkids.
So one of the things, aswe had boy girl, fraternal twins,
(09:03):
and our twin son just had twingranddaughters about eight months ago. So all
of our kids and grandkids were allin California. So we try to spend
some time out there a couple timesa year or so and visit the kids
and things. So it also givesus an opportunity to get away from snowy,
cold Ohio and go to California whereit's a little bit warmer this time
(09:24):
of year. Yeah, a fewweeks ago it sounded really really good.
One it was frigid, Louis beforeI let you go. A couple of
things quickly. When you're not working. I know you mentioned family, you
know out in California, so youguys do some traveling. But do you
have any hobbies in your spare timewhen you're not working. What do you
like to do well? I liketo hike. Was part of the Mohican
Trails Club. And I also likehistory, so I'm part of the rich
(09:46):
History Alliance that's here in Richland County, and I'm very involved in the tourism
boards. So here at Destination Mansfield, I sit on the tourism board there,
So I, like you say,I enjoy traveling this summer of the
wife and I spent eight weeks crossingthe country, stopped at national parks and
places along the way on our wayout to California and stuff. So we
(10:07):
like to travel, I like tospend time with family and friends, and
I like history as well. Sothose free time I'm using is volunteering on
different boards. I'm still on theMelibar Farm Foundation board and with Rich History
Alliance as far as the history isconcerned here, and with Destination Mansfield.
So those are my three things thatinvolved here in the community. All Right,
terrific to learn again the whole storythis morning about Louis Andris Mansfield's public
(10:31):
works director. Before I let yougo, I'm sure you mentioned the mayor
you know, has a vision inyou. Being the public works director,
You're working with a lot of peopleto improve things here locally. Anything early
on you can share with those,I'm sure you'd love if somebody's got a
question, right, you know,reach out. You guys would love to
hear from people, right Well,definitely, one of the things that this
(10:52):
administration wants to do is we knowwe have some infrastructure problems that we need
to take care of. We alsoneed to look at ways that we can
build the economic growth here in theMansfield area, but also the safety as
well. So there's a lot ofthings that we're going to be working on,
and both the mayor and myself aregoing to be available in community events
and visiting different things. So byall means of people have their feedback or
(11:16):
want to reach out to us andgive us some of their ideas and things,
we're open to those because we wantto make this team that we have
put together here work for the Cityof Mansfield. Now, louis last thing
to get a hold of somebody,and again it's thirteen different departments. For
the public Works department, just justgo to the city website right you can
find an email a phone number toget you to the right place. Yes,
(11:39):
it's very user friendly. If yougo right to our website, there's
links to each one of the departmentsand also there's one just for city parks
if you want to learn about cityparks or any file it complain or if
you have issues or whatever. It'svery user friendly. If you can't find
what you want, just call hereto the City of Mansfield and they'll direct
you to the right apartment. Andso that you can talk to somebody that
(12:01):
can help you with with your concerns. Now you can just serch City of
Mansfield. But the exact address isCI dot Mansfield dot oh dot us.
And as he mentioned it really useyour friendly They got three little lines up
right hand corner. Click on that, go to where it says government and
go down and you can. Itwas real easy to get there and click
on a public works department. Greatconversation this morning, Louis Andress again public
(12:24):
works director in Mansfield. Louis hasbeen great to learn all about you.
Thanks for being here and we wishyou continued success. All right, thank
you Erin for the invite. Havea good day, Louis Andrews, Mansfield's
public Works director. The CEO youshould know rid a bio see a photo
and here the extended interview at WMAn FM dot com. Leading means having
(12:48):
a vision and sharing it with others. I'm John Roby of RFI Insurance.
We're excited to bring you this programfeaturing CEOs from our area who will share
the thoughts and what it means towork and live in north central Ohio.
The CEO you should know, broughtto you by Roby Foster Miller Eric Insurance.
This week's CEO Louie Andress, Mansfield'spublic Works Director. Today we're going
to shine the spotlight on the cityof Mansfield. They have a brand new
public Works director, a familiar nameto many of those here in the community.
(00:23):
Joining us is Louie Andress. Louisfirst of all, thanks for taking
time. How you doing today,I'm doing great. Thanks for the imitation.
Absolutely many people know you, andwe'll get to your background a little
bit. But let's begin. AmI right you were just recently named public
Works director. Correct, Yes,that's true. I'm in my fourth week
(00:43):
now learning the ropes and kind oflearn a little bit more about the city
government here in Mansfield and just kindof going around and visiting each one of
the department heads that I'm responsible forand just kind of get a good field
what needs are out there and whatthings we can do differently to improve our
performance to our citizens here in Maninsfield. Now, as somebody here's the job
(01:04):
title public Works director, can youkind of give us an overview. You're
in charge of a lot. Giveus kind of what your job is and
kind of what you oversee. Yeah, it's one of the bigger part of
the departments. As far as thenumber of people that report to me.
There's thirteen different public works departments andthey include the airport out at Mansfield Long
(01:27):
and includes building and codes when wego and inspect something as far as water
plumbing and buildings, the Clear ForkReservoir that we have out there, that's
our drinking water supply in our campingarea, and things of that nature.
Engineering, our building maintenance here atthe building, the City building, the
City Parks and Recreation, the CityRepair Garage, which we do all the
(01:49):
repair work for all the city vehicles. That includes police, fire, and
all the utilities and everything. Alsosewer repair, streets and signals, utility
collects, water repair, waste waterand drinking water treatment facility. So there's
a lot encompassing as far as publicWorks department. Yeah, that is a
lot to oversee, and I'm surethere's a lot of people that report to
(02:12):
you right on a daily basis tokind of, you know, keep things
running. Yeah, there's probably abouttwenty to twenty five different department heads and
superintendents that we report and we meeton a regular basis just to kind of
communicate and keep things going together.But yeah, it's quite a large undertaking
and a lot to include as faras some of the city facilities. We
are hearing the voice today of LouisAnders again, who has just recently named
(02:37):
the new public works director in theCity of Mansfield. Now, in terms
of something for you on a dailybasis, I'm sure it changes. Because
you mentioned, you know, youknow, thirteen different public works departments.
I'm sure you're you're all over townright on a daily basis. Yeah,
I mean, like right now,most of our interests are people calling in,
whether it's snowplowing, water main breaks, different things with utility collections,
(03:01):
people have issues or something they wantto do with the parks. So a
lot of community engagement because a lotof things that we do affect everybody every
day. So it's really important forus to communicate back and forth and be
able to be attentive to those cityfolks that have issues or want us to
get involved and help them with somesituations. Lewis, you mentioned, you
(03:23):
know, you know, being youknow, good communication with people. The
City of Mansfield website CI dot Mansfielddot oh dot us. If they go
to that website, and I believethat's recently been revamped. Looks pretty good.
I'm on the public Works page rightnow. You can actually go through
and get information how to contact eachdepartment, right, that's correct. We
(03:45):
just revamped well, when new administrationcome in with Mayor Perry, we thought
it was imperative that the website reflectcurrent information and information that people would need
to get to the right departments.So within the last couple of weeks we
have revised that and added new contactsand trying to make it user friendly.
So when I first was appointed adirector, that's the first place I went
(04:09):
to was the website to find outexactly what my job was going to be
entail and all that, and itreally was not updated. So that was
one of the first things I didwas try to get the most current,
updated information. Heers when our citizensor visitors from outside the city want to
learn more about Mansfield, that theyhave a good resource to go to.
You're hearing the voice today of LouisAndris again. Who is Mansfield Public Works
(04:32):
Director? Now, let me askyou since we're here in winter time and
knock on wood, we haven't hadtoo much snow, but there was some
Recently, everything seemed to go prettywell in terms of snow removal, sold
all those kind of things. Yeah, we were prepared for it. I
mean, we were able to getsome new trucks and stuff with the ARPA
money that the city received, andwhen Mayor Perry came in, we sat
(04:55):
down with the superintendent, Steve Brown. We came up with a plan that
we we wanted to address the issues. So when we did have a snow
event or ice event or something likethat, that we were prepared and we
had a game plan, and we'vemade a little bit of changes and things,
but for overall, we just wantto be responsive and be out there
with our trucks and doing what weneed to do to keep those streets open
(05:17):
and safe. All right, Well, let's find out a little bit more
about you personally. Again. You'rehearing the voice today of Louis Andres,
this week's CEO. You should knowhe's the new public works director in Mansfield.
Louis. Many people may know you, but those that don't, let's
go back to the beginning. Couldyou tell us where was Louis Andres born.
I was born in Middletown, Ohio, which is just north of Cincinnati,
(05:40):
in between Cincinnati and Dayton, andwent to school Filwick High School,
then went to Miami University in Oxford, and then my first job out of
college there was being a park rangerat East Fork State Park, which is
in southern Ohio here Cincinnati, ClaremontCounty. And then I've had a long
career thirty three years with the OhioDepartment at Resources under Parks. Eventually started
(06:05):
in southern Ohio and eventually ended upall the way up to Lake Erias.
I'd moved with all my promotions andthings from south of southern Ohio all the
way up to a lake erie atCleveland Lake Front when it was a state
park there. Now for people thatdon't know, how did you make it
to the Mansfield area, Well,I was offered a position at Malibar Farm
(06:26):
as the park manager, and Iaccepted that position in nineteen ninety two.
So I arrived there in early Aprilof ninety two and was charged with getting
things taken care of at Malabar.There was some kind of controversy on how
things were being done, so Iwas brought in to kind of get the
community together, get a plan togetherto turn around at least Malabar Farm and
(06:48):
make sure that we were meeting theneeds of the community and having some community
involvement and making some good decisions thatwould be good for the park in the
long term. Things I was ableto do while I was there. Some
of the things that were most notedfor was the barn raising that we had
there for the barn. We alsobuild a visitor center, new visitors center,
(07:09):
did some improvements. One of thethings they started was the Malibar Farm
Foundation, which has been instrumental inhelping provide some support and some funding for
some projects that the state of Ohiowasn't able to do. Louis, how
long were you at Malabar. Iwas at Malabar for about twenty three years
as the park manager, and thenI got promoted to the district manager,
(07:31):
which oversaw Mohican, Malabar and FinleyState Parks in my region. Then I
was promoted to a regional manager,which is the Northeast district, and that
added Cleveland Lake Front and Headlands Beachand those areas up and there so went
all the way from Mansfield all theway to Lake Erie was part of my
region. When I was in theParks. All right, Louis Andris with
(07:55):
us today. He is Mansfield's publicWorks director. So let's get the story.
You know, all those with theOhio Department of Nancial Resources. How
did you make it to being nowMansfield's public works director? How did this
come to be? It was kindof Jody or Mayor. Jody called me
up and offered me the position.So I sit down with her for several
(08:16):
hours and talking, discussing, youknow, what our values ideas, but
I could bring to the team,and I felt very comfortable talking with the
mayor and decided this might be anopportunity for me to bring some of my
expertise and stuff in state government andbring it over here and try to make
an impact and make a difference forthe city of Mansfield here. All right,
(08:39):
Well, glad to learn the storythis morning of Louis Andrews. While
we're on the topic of you,I don't know, married kids, anything
like that. Tell us more aboutLouis and the family. Yeah, I'm
married and we have three kids.All three kids currently live out in California.
They all eventually ended up out there, and I have five grandkids.
So one of the things, aswe had boy girl, fraternal twins,
(09:03):
and our twin son just had twingranddaughters about eight months ago. So all
of our kids and grandkids were allin California. So we try to spend
some time out there a couple timesa year or so and visit the kids
and things. So it also givesus an opportunity to get away from snowy,
cold Ohio and go to California whereit's a little bit warmer this time
(09:24):
of year. Yeah, a fewweeks ago it sounded really really good.
One it was frigid, Louis beforeI let you go. A couple of
things quickly. When you're not working. I know you mentioned family, you
know out in California, so youguys do some traveling. But do you
have any hobbies in your spare timewhen you're not working. What do you
like to do well? I liketo hike. Was part of the Mohican
Trails Club. And I also likehistory, so I'm part of the rich
(09:46):
History Alliance that's here in Richland County, and I'm very involved in the tourism
boards. So here at Destination Mansfield, I sit on the tourism board there,
So I, like you say,I enjoy traveling this summer of the
wife and I spent eight weeks crossingthe country, stopped at national parks and
places along the way on our wayout to California and stuff. So we
(10:07):
like to travel, I like tospend time with family and friends, and
I like history as well. Sothose free time I'm using is volunteering on
different boards. I'm still on theMelibar Farm Foundation board and with Rich History
Alliance as far as the history isconcerned here, and with Destination Mansfield.
So those are my three things thatinvolved here in the community. All Right,
terrific to learn again the whole storythis morning about Louis Andris Mansfield's public
(10:31):
works director. Before I let yougo, I'm sure you mentioned the mayor
you know, has a vision inyou. Being the public works director,
You're working with a lot of peopleto improve things here locally. Anything early
on you can share with those,I'm sure you'd love if somebody's got a
question, right, you know,reach out. You guys would love to
hear from people, right Well,definitely, one of the things that this
(10:52):
administration wants to do is we knowwe have some infrastructure problems that we need
to take care of. We alsoneed to look at ways that we can
build the economic growth here in theMansfield area, but also the safety as
well. So there's a lot ofthings that we're going to be working on,
and both the mayor and myself aregoing to be available in community events
and visiting different things. So byall means of people have their feedback or
(11:16):
want to reach out to us andgive us some of their ideas and things,
we're open to those because we wantto make this team that we have
put together here work for the Cityof Mansfield. Now, louis last thing
to get a hold of somebody,and again it's thirteen different departments. For
the public Works department, just justgo to the city website right you can
find an email a phone number toget you to the right place. Yes,
(11:39):
it's very user friendly. If yougo right to our website, there's
links to each one of the departmentsand also there's one just for city parks
if you want to learn about cityparks or any file it complain or if
you have issues or whatever. It'svery user friendly. If you can't find
what you want, just call hereto the City of Mansfield and they'll direct
you to the right apartment. Andso that you can talk to somebody that
(12:01):
can help you with with your concerns. Now you can just serch City of
Mansfield. But the exact address isCI dot Mansfield dot oh dot us.
And as he mentioned it really useyour friendly They got three little lines up
right hand corner. Click on that, go to where it says government and
go down and you can. Itwas real easy to get there and click
on a public works department. Greatconversation this morning, Louis Andress again public
(12:24):
works director in Mansfield. Louis hasbeen great to learn all about you.
Thanks for being here and we wishyou continued success. All right, thank
you Erin for the invite. Havea good day, Louis Andrews, Mansfield's
public Works director. The CEO youshould know rid a bio see a photo
and here the extended interview at WMAn FM dot com. Leading means having
(12:48):
a vision and sharing it with others. I'm John Roby of RFI Insurance.
We're excited to bring you this programfeaturing CEOs from our area who will share
the thoughts and what it means towork and live in north central Ohio.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.