Hometown Grit

In this episode, we present Franco Lucarelli, a Navy Veteran and Director of Utilities for Warren, Ohio. With solid roots in Warren, Franco shares his journey of loss, rebellion, and finding unexpected opportunity in hard times. You'll learn eye-opening facts about national and local infrastructure and water. But most of all, you get to know a gentleman who proves loyalty, leadership, and grit through action, not talk.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• Life in Warren, Ohio
• Impact of Family Loss
• Navy Life
• Environmental Stewardship
• Real Leadership
• Franco's "One Word"

So press play and be moved by Captain Cole's inspiring story. Ladies and gentlemen, Sound United Presents... Franco Lucarelli!

Be sure to subscribe wherever you vibe with podcasts or visit our website. www.soundunitedpresents.com

Sound United Presents is a community-focused podcast powered by Sound United Podcast Studio. Produced by Kimberly Gonzales and D. Lee Scott

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to Sound United
Presents, a diverse andinclusive podcast focused on
local entrepreneurs,professionals and unsung
community heroes.
Within each episode, our guestswill candidly share their
stories filled with triumph,failures, humor, lessons learned
, insight and some nuggets ofwisdom.
I'm very excited about this,and I hope you are too.

(00:34):
Let's get started.
Hey folks, thank you forhitting the play button for
another episode of Sound UnitedPresents.
In the friendly confines ofSound United Podcast Studio, I'm
your host, d Lee Scott, andmaking this sound crispy, as I
like to often say, is KGKimberly Gonzalez.
Today, I have another wonderfulguest we always got wonderful

(00:56):
guests here and so, before Iintroduce him, I'm going to
throw out some words.
Some of the topics that we'regoing to discuss Roots, water,
environment and no to mygardening friend.
You know I love gardening.
I'm not talking about that.

(01:17):
He's not here for that, so I'mgoing to throw some more out
there Leadership, genuine, solid, loyal.
And with those words, ladiesand gentlemen, sound United
presents.
Mr Franco Luccarelli.
How are you, sir?

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Sean, I'm doing great .
I'm happy to be here thismorning.
I'm excited and I'm ready toget this going.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, you got some pep in your step with a nice
smile on you.
You're always smiling everytime I see you.
Man, I'm ready, I'm excited.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
This is my virgin podcast, so I'm excited.
I'm excited to go forward withit.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
I never heard that one before, so I should probably
write that down.
And I didn't even throw inthere who you are and we're
going to talk about all that.
Some people in the Valley andWarren know you, but you are the
director of utilities for thecity of Warren, ohio.
Shout out to Warren the big W,amongst other things, too.
So we'll, we'll dive in that.
But I just didn't want to say,oh yeah, here's Franco, let's

(02:12):
you know.
I wanted to put something onthere, because a lot of this
stuff is really and truly aboutwhat you do and how you do it
and just your leadership andthings like that, and
environmental stewardship too.
Absolutely.
Do you see that?
On the little topic thing, Isaw it on the topic.
It's important, absolutely.
All right, my man, let's getstarted.
So take a minute and let's tellthe audience about you.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Well, as you said earlier, my Franco Luccarelli,
I'm proud to say I was born andraised in Warren, ohio.
Out of these 57 years of lifeon earth, I've spent 53 years in
Warren, minus the four years Ispent in the Navy, traveling
around the world.

(02:57):
I was born on the west side, onUnion Street, raised on Beale
Street on the west side ofWarren, and then, after a very
underwhelming high school career, I joined the Navy and I spent
four years traveling the world,which was a growth experience

(03:22):
that I highly recommend toanybody that isn't sure what
they want to do in life, becauseit exposed a lot of
opportunities, positive andnegative, and it made me have to
grow up as a man.
When you're 18 years old,traveling around the world with

(03:44):
other grown men that havefamilies and and are much older
than you, and you're travelingto different nations all over
the world, you have to grow upand you have to grow up quick.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
You went right out of high school, right out of high
school.
My uncle did that.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, the navy the name, by the way.
Uh, I actually signed up when Iwas a junior in high school
because I just knew I wasn'tcollege material at the time,
didn't know what I wanted to do,and my standard line now is at
57.
When I grow up I'm going to tryand figure out what I want to

(04:22):
do in life and what I want to be, and maybe I'll come back for a
podcast when I figure that out.
But right now I'm still stillhaven't grown up enough to
figure out what I want to be inlife, and I sure didn't know
when I was 18.
Okay, so I did my four yearsfour and a half years in
military, came back, workdifferent jobs in the city,

(04:46):
warren, because I knew I wantedto come back to be around family
at that time.
Um, you know, my mother washere, my brother and his family,
my, my older sister and herfamily, and, uh, I worked
different places.
I worked at a steel mill, Isold life insurance and then I

(05:07):
ended up getting a job with thecity of Warren Water Department
on a whim.
It was really one of thosethings where it wasn't a plan,
it wasn't a goal.
They literally were working ona water main break in front of
my house one day and I went outthere and I was talking to them

(05:29):
and I said you know what?
I said, I gotta try this.
And I I filled out anapplication and, uh, god willing
, a couple weeks later I got acall and ended up and I started
as a laborer in 1997 at thewater department so when you so,
let's go back a little bit.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
You did the navy and that, but but how was life
growing up?
And more like you know,climbing trees and getting crab
apples, yeah, you know what I Iin in a lot of ways when I look
back.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
My, my childhood was pretty standard.
You know, on Mill Street wewere riding bikes through the
neighborhood, we were playingfootball, we were playing
baseball.
You know, I played baseballdown at Perkins Park, played
dodgeball, we fixed our bikesand I had a pretty, what I would
consider normal childhood untilmy father ended up getting

(06:24):
cancer when I was seven.
Then things changed.
My mother did her absolute bestto try to make my childhood as
normal as it could be, but shewas attending to my father who
had gone through several boutswith cancer, and so at that time

(06:49):
I was spending a lot of timewith my older sister.
She had, now that I look back,the burden of helping to raise
her little brother and otherfamily members and I will
forever be grateful for her andmy older brother for their,
their efforts and their, theirguidance at the time.

(07:12):
And my father passed away acouple days before I started
high school.
So I went through high schoolsort of lost lost emotionally,
lost intellectually, and I wasan angry kid at the time.

(07:33):
I was mad because I couldn'tunderstand, you know, why this
happened to my father, why thiswas happening to my mother
because she had to go through itwith the the rest of the family
.
She had lost her husband andthe love of her life and uh, I
spent a lot of years angry as ayouth, which didn't serve me

(07:57):
well.
It probably got me in more uhaltercations than I should have
been in you say a lot ofrebellion.
Yes, absolute uh rebellion and adesire to make sure that my
mother didn't have to spendmoney on me because she was a

(08:19):
single woman.
Now my parents were first.
They both came over on the boatfrom Italy.
My father worked at CopperweldSteel.
My mother was a stay-at-homemother and she would do
seamstress work and she was awonderful seamstress.
She could make a wedding dressfrom scratch and she was that

(08:39):
good and she earned money thatway after my father passed away.
But I didn't want to be aburden and you know I tried very
hard in that time to, you know,work at Burger Chef, work at Mr
Chicken Burger Chef Wow, man.

Speaker 1 (08:58):
Yeah.
I'm going back a long way itwas Burger Chef on.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Parkman Road and it was Mr Chicken on West Market
Street, Part of the reason why Ididn't want to go to college.
Besides the fact that at thetime school and education didn't
appeal to me, I didn't want mymother to have to spend the
money.
So I figured, if I go to theNavy, I'll make money, I can

(09:23):
send money home and it won'tcost my mother anything.
And again, I don't regret itbecause it was a wonderful
experience Four years of growthand I still have friends today
that I communicate with viaFacebook and Instagram from when
I was in the Navy, and that wasgoing on 40 years ago now.

(09:45):
So it was typical to a point.
And then things changed andthen I had those rebellious
years that, like I said, didn'tserve me well.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Where did you, you know, warn, back in the day.
I mean, we had lots of schools,yes, and I know I've got a
general idea of what you'regoing to say, but what schools
did you go to?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well and I say this jokingly, but I, you know, I say
it in jest my claim to fame isI was such a bad student that
every school that I went to inthe city of Warren has been torn
down.
I went to McGuffey on the westside, on Todd Avenue there, then

(10:34):
I went to Turner and then Iwent to Warren Western Reserve
and, irony of all ironies, nowwhen Dr Seuss Day comes around
and representatives from thecity we go read Dr Seuss books
at different elementary schools,I always request to go to

(10:56):
McGuffey, which is, to me, iscoming full circle.
You know I was at McGuffey as ayouth.
They tore it down, they rebuiltit and now I get to go there
and read dr seuss books to youngkids in the first grade and the
second grade.
And you know, ask them uh, youknow did.

(11:18):
Did everybody wash their teethor brush their teeth this
morning?
If you did, that's because youknow I work at the water
department and that's how thewater come, comes out, and uh,
uh, turner again, it's part ofthe packard park area now, and
then western reserve is.
It's a.

(11:38):
It's a blank field now, butwhen we're talking about coming
full circle and we'll may get tothis later on.
I'm heavily involved in aproject to bring industry to
that whole area of west lawn anddeemer park, and so it's coming

(11:58):
full circle.
But I like to think we wouldn'thave that development in the
old Western Reserve property ifI hadn't gone there and they
decided to tear down after Ileft.
It's your fault, frank.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yes, it's all my fault, franco.
It's your fault.
So you are, when it comes downto you're, a raider.
Like, are you a true raider?
Do you get caught up in that,or are you just kind of?

Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, you know what?
I never got caught up on it,even though I am a Raider, but
I've tried to look at itholistically, in the sense that,
look, we're worn strong, we'renot Raider strong, we're not
Panther strong, we're wornstrong and strong.
And, and I believe, togetherthe west side and east side are

(12:46):
stronger than apart.
Yeah, and and I think that, uh,you know the qualities that are
exist, exhibited by people,whether they live on the east
side, west side, south side,north side, um, we, we have a,
uh, a good melting pot ofindividuals that can each

(13:11):
contribute in their own way tomake war in a better place.
So, do, do I care about themascot, a red line on the
football field?
I never got it all.
I I've, I said, said it fromthe get-go when this happened in
, I think, 1990.
Yeah, it was the year.
I don't care if they're wearingpink and turquoise.

(13:34):
If they're out there putting aproduct out there and they're
representing Warren and they'rewinning, I'm good, that's it.
Throw on pink helmets andturquoise.

Speaker 1 (13:45):
I, I could care less do you, uh, going through your
childhood and it was, you know,I can't even imagine man but at
some point in there, or maybeeven before this had happened,
before the age of seven, did youhave like a dream career, like,
was you watching like hillStreet Blues and wanted to be a
police officer or something?

Speaker 2 (14:04):
No, I was.
I was one of those guys where,when I say I was, I was lost as
a youth.
I didn't know what I wanted todo, I just knew that I had to
figure out a way to make money.
So I didn't have, you know, Ididn't sit there and I and I'd

(14:25):
I'd had always admired friendsof mine.
Uh, one of my best friendsgrowing up, you know, in the
seventh and eighth grade, saidhe wanted to be a doctor.
To this day he is a doctor andI've always admired the people
that could do that and and knowwhat they want to be in life,
what they want to do.

(14:46):
On the flip side of that, I'vealways felt it's unfair for
society to ask an 18-year-oldhey, what do you want to do in
life and which college do youwant to go to to learn how to do
what you want to do in life,life, even though you have no
life experience in it and youhave no knowledge whatsoever of

(15:11):
of that field.
Yeah, and now we want you tomake that decision.
As a young 18 year old, feelthe pressure of having to
succeed now that you've madethat decision, because you have
family members, you have friends, everybody knows you went to
ohio state because you wanted tobe a veterinarian or whatever,
and it turns out you don't evenlike biology or veterinarian

(15:33):
whatnot, and you have thatpressure um, yeah, there's, um,
there's something, something tothat there.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
I can't remember what book it is, and I've heard it
many times, especially for males, that you know we don't really
meet maturity until 26.
Like, we're not right up here.
Development and I've said thison other podcasts that when I
look back on on my life, likethat was that was the moment
where you know, cause I didn'tlike school.

(16:02):
I mean, you went across stage,I mean I came up at 16 and Mr
Johnson said well, if you don'tget these transcripts, you can't
graduate.
It was the worst thing youcould have told me, Cause I
didn't want to be in school.
No way, yeah, exactly, butnothing really clicked till
around 25, 26,.
But I think it is a lot ofpressure, you know, I mean to

(16:22):
discuss careers and all thisother stuff at like 18, like you
haven't even had a chance toreally do those 18, 19, 20 year
old things yet you know what Imean.
It's just like you, youfinished high school, you know,
and boom, like, go off tocollege.
I mean I used to do that withour kids too.
I mean we were, I wasconditioned yeah, your kids go

(16:42):
to, you know, high school.
Then you, you get them tocollege because you want them to
be successful and better thanyou are.
But looking back on it, man,you know we didn't force my son.
He didn't.
You know he.
He definitely wasn't collegematerial.
We we joke all the time, Me andhis mom.
He's like, yeah, he's not going, he's not going, Um, but our

(17:06):
daughter was you know what Imean, straight from high school
to college.
But I think it is a thing withthat?
the maturity, because that'stough man to really have you
can't figure this all out.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
I think it's unfair.
Uh, you know, I have two.
I have two grown kids.
Uh, one, my son.
He was college material.
That, I mean, it's just assimple as that.
He was college material andhe's got his PhD in mechanical
engineering and never had a blipin the road, so to speak.

(17:33):
My daughter, she would tell youall through high school, I'm
not going to college, I'm notdoing.
And she's in LA and she's aprofessional dancer.
Right now she's doing anational tour with a group and I
think I just received a textthis morning she was flying out

(17:54):
of Houston because they had aconcert last night in Houston
and they're heading to Miami andshe's doing her thing.
So I'm a scientist and I havean artist scientist and I have
an artist, um, and both of themwere fortunate enough to be able
to follow their, their nicheand their lane, so to speak, and

(18:15):
it it's so far.
It's worked out well for bothof them.
They're, they're, they're greatkids and they're not kids
anymore, young adults, umthey're going to always be our
kids.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, yeah, but they're always yeah, it's always
my little girl.
Yeah, on the subject of careers,and I thought you were going to
say something.
You know, when you get into youknow, speak of the water
department, things like that.
It's kind of like when I wantedto be an electrician and I was
just fascinated Like man.
I flipped a switch andelectricity just comes on.

(18:45):
This light comes on with water.
It's kind of the same thing.
You turn this thing and youknow, you don't know where it
comes from.
So I thought maybe yourinterest would have started
there.
But no, you said they was doingsome work in front of your
house and boom.
So let's talk about yourjourney in this to where you are
now.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
Let's talk a little bit about that.
When I think about it it'seither interesting or weird one
way or the other.
But that day I was sitting athome, I was in the insurance
industry, didn't like it, wasmaking money, but I didn't like
it.
I wasn't happy doing it andjust on a whim you know know,

(19:23):
the water was off.
I looked outside there's waterdepartment trucks and that's
essentially how this careerstarted was just on a whim and I
figured well, I'll do this fora while till I figure out what I
want to do.
How old were you?
I was 28, 28.
Okay, I said I'm going to dothis for a while until I figure

(19:43):
out what I want to do and then,once I figure that out, I'll
leave the water department andmove on.
And then, once I got there, itjust went back to my usual
mindset of you know, my dad usedto tell me all the time one of

(20:05):
the few memories I have, Ishould say, is that he used to
always say look, no matter whatjob you're doing, whether you're
a doctor, a ditch digger or thegarbage man picking up the
garbage, you want to be the bestat it, because if you're the
best, if you're the best garbageman.

(20:26):
You're always going to be ableto put food on the table and
make money, because everybodywill want you to pick up their
garbage.
And that resonated with methrough life and I've done that
in every job that I've ever done.
So when I started with thewater department, I started out

(20:46):
as labor.
I think I was making at thetime uh, a little bit less than
$8 an hour, but I I knew if I'mgoing to look, if I'm here and
I'm doing this, then I'm goingto be the best labor at the
water department.
And then, as that progressed,then I moved up into different
positions when opportunitiesarose.

(21:07):
So I worked.
At one time I counted them.
I can't.
I don't have that number offthe top of my head right now,
but I can't tell you all thedifferent jobs I've worked at
the water department, becausethere are so many different, so
many different opportunities andjobs at the water department.
Because there are so manydifferent opportunities and jobs
at the water department, youdon't need to be a laborer.

(21:30):
You can get your CDL and youcould drive a truck.
You can learn how to operateheavy machinery, a backhoe, a
front end loader.
You could be the foreman.
So you're taking on leadershiproles.
Then you can go to theadministrative side and you
could be a meter reader beenthere, done that.
You could be a distributiontechnician.

(21:52):
You could work on theadministrative side as a cashier
, office manager, data entry andthen you could work at the
filtration plant, which I thinkto this day, I feel that the men
and women that work at thewater filtration plant, which I
think to this day, I feel thatthe men and women that work at
the water treatment plant, notjust in Warren, but throughout

(22:13):
the United States and throughoutthe world, I think they are
unsung heroes that don't get therespect and or financial
benefit that is due to thembecause of the job that they
have to do is so important in myeyes that they just don't get

(22:40):
the credit.
They just don't get the creditfor it and they don't get
compensated accordingly.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Are they like the, would you say, the front line of
like the front line Absolutely?

Speaker 2 (22:52):
Without the filtration plant and my
predecessor, my boss, my mentorand my friend, my boss, my
mentor and my friend, bob Davis,who was director of utilities
prior to me, and to this day Icherish his thought process, his

(23:15):
wisdom and his guidance.
I still call him, he stilltakes my calls.
He would always say it allbegins at the water treatment
plant, because people don'tunderstand.
We're getting raw water fromMosquito Lake.
That water comes into thefiltration plant and those

(23:35):
individuals that are working atthe water filtration plant are
the ones that take raw waterfrom Mosquito Lake and make it
so.
When it comes out of yourspigot it's fresh water.
You can drink with it, you cancook with it, you can shower
with it, you can bathe with it,you could use it, obviously, for

(23:56):
the restrooms and whatnot.
And I think in today's world,like in today's world, society
has become desensitized to well,this is just something we
expect to happen, like it justhappens.
Yeah, every civilization thathas ever thrived was only able

(24:29):
to thrive because they had wateras a source for life and
consumption and or production insome cases, around here back in
the day was still mills, andthat's why, even even in 20, in
the year 2024.
You have first world countriesand you have third world

(24:49):
countries and if you just lookat the basics of it, the main
difference between most firstworld countries and third world
countries is access to freshpotable drinking water.
If you don't have that, youcannot escape being a third
world country.
It just doesn't exist.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
So those people filtration plant highly
underrated how have you on thesubject, because you you brought
up history and eras and thingslike that, which which gives me
a interesting question to askyou have you seen the industry
that you were in evolve over theyears?

Speaker 2 (25:30):
You know, I thought about this and how I would put
it into words and I say this alot of times because I do quite
a few presentations, I get askedto speak at different events
and whatnot.
But what amazes me is, in 2024,the basic premise of how water

(25:55):
is treated is the same as it wasa hundred years ago.
You get water, you havecoagulation, you have
flocculation, you havesedimentation and you have
filtration.
You have that four-step processand I sit there in wonderment
thinking you know, there werepeople 100 years ago that

(26:19):
created this process when theydidn't have computers, they
didn't have, you know, google,they didn't have chat, gpt, they
had to figure this all out ontheir own.

Speaker 1 (26:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
And then you can go all the way back to the Romans
with the aqueducts and so on andso forth.
The basic premise of how youget raw water and you treat it
and you put it out to the publicfor consumption is still the
same Now.
Through the years there's beenadvances in technology, on

(26:51):
different chemicals that areused to make the process more
efficient, make the process moresafe for the public, but the
basic concept of treating waterhas stayed the same.
We just are fortunate enough tolive in a time where we have
technology available to us toenhance that basic process Not

(27:16):
change it, but just enhance it.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
OK, so, because I had a question on leadership, but
I'm going to get.
I'm going to get to thatbecause there's some other
things I want to ask you in thatrealm, you being a director,
but on the subject of you know,the industry evolving, what
strategies do you use to likeaddress the challenges of like
aging infrastructure?

(27:39):
So, like I was doing researchone time, I try to do a little
bit of research some interestingstuff too, with pipes and the
mileage and it's just crazystuff, but a lot of them are old
, I don't know.
You know what the city ofWarner saw, but there you, I
think some research was sayingthere's some they're like over a
hundred years old and likegoing East or something like

(28:00):
that.
Sure, what strategies do youuse to address those challenges
of like aging infrastructure asa director, or just being
experienced and being in thiswith 27 plus years?
Well, there's.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
There's no single way to attack the issue.
For instance, the city ofWarren.
We're responsible for 305 milesof underground water mains.
Wait, say that one more time305 miles of underground water
mains that range from sizes,from 2-inch all the way up to

(28:34):
16-inch and 30-inch, coming intothe filtration plant.
85% of our water lines wereinstalled prior to 1965.
So if you do the math when youhear aging infrastructure on the
news, or if you read it in thecity of Warren or Youngstown or

(28:56):
Niles, any city in this area wecould be the poster child for
aging infrastructure.
With that being said, there'salso it's not as simple as
saying okay, we have a100-year-old water main here on
East Market Street in Warren,we're going to put that on the
replacement list here on EastMarket Street in Warren.
We're going to put that on thereplacement list Because through

(29:21):
the years, depending on whenthat water main was manufactured
, who it was manufactured by,will dictate the quality of that
cast iron water main.
So we may have some water mainsin the city of Warren that are
100 years old, but we veryrarely have any issues with them
.
And then we may have some watermains that are 60 years old,
but because of the quality ofthe material and the

(29:44):
manufacturing at that time.
In that process we have moreissues and more problems with
them.
And then you know, when theyput that water line in the
ground, did they put properbedding down so that that cast
iron water main isn't sitting onslag and and iron ore deposits

(30:06):
that were dumped from the steelmills that are now eating
through the, the cast iron?
So it people think and I wasguilty of it in my earlier years
of thinking if it's an oldwater main we have to replace it
because it's old.
But that's not the case.
There's a lot of factors thatcome into our water line

(30:29):
replacement program and we'reputting together a 50-year plan,
which sounds like a lot and itis.
But that 50-year plan has to bea.
It's going to be a livingdocument Because in those years
we're going to find out okay, wehad this street scheduled in

(30:51):
2030.
But you know what?
We're still not having problemswith it.
So maybe we can move that upand move another one down the
list so that we can replace that.
And it's going to be anexpensive process.
I used to say until COVIDstruck, it was a million dollars

(31:11):
a mile to put in a new watermain.
A million a mile.
A million a mile Wow.
Now the going rate for a watermain is anywhere between $1.7 to
$2.3 million for the same waterline.
Replacement of that one mile,wow, one mile.

(31:32):
So Wow.
If, if the good Lord above wereto drop a hundred million
dollars on to the city of Warrentoday, it still wouldn't be
enough to replace all the aginginfrastructure we have.
So we just have to, we have tobe strategic, we have to be
smart on how we go about doingthat.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
Strategic.
What initiatives have youimplemented to ensure
operational excellence at yourdepartment?

Speaker 2 (32:23):
at the enterprise.
Well, over the years I've beentrying to be forward thinking
and progressive and not shy awayfrom new technologies and new
information that's out there.
So what we've done over thelast several years is we've
digitized all our papers at thewater department.
So we used to be famous forhaving a paper for this, a paper
work order, a paper everythingwas paper.
We have been gradually throughthe years moving to, as I like

(32:44):
to say, the year 2005 anddigitizing everything, including
our prints.
We have over 2000 pages of handdrawn prints that each water
line or that 305 miles has beenhand drawn by someone, with the
proper measurements andeverything, and those are kept

(33:06):
in a fireproof safe that we canlook at historically.
But we've had those digitized.
So now the staff, when they'reout on a main break or they're
out doing a customer service,they have an iPad to look at the
waterline, look at the map ofthe city, versus having to make
copies and take those papercopies out there.

(33:28):
We've done that.
We've utilized.
I'm a big proponent of KPIs.
I love key performance indexstats.
Graphs, as I like to say,explain it in big crayons so
it's easy to understand.
Because I think KPIs areimportant, because that's how
you keep score and you can'tplay a game if you don't know

(33:54):
what the score is.
You don't know what to do nextand you have to keep track and
keep score of what you're doing.
And of late, obviously, in thelast year or so, myself and a
couple members of my staff we'veembraced AI technology and my
staff we've embraced AItechnology and we're trying to

(34:17):
figure out how we could use AItechnology for computational
analysis to help us with.
Okay, we know the age of thewater main, we know the number

(34:37):
of breaks that we've had on thiswater main over a number of
years and whatnot.
Geologically, we could probablyfind out what the geological
material is that it's sitting onin that particular street.
So how can we use AI andcomputational analysis to spit
us out a report on, essentiallyan algorithm of suggestions on

(35:03):
where that main ranks as far asreplacing it?
And we're doing the same thingwith lead service lines, that's
an initiative right now.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Yes, I want to talk about that later too.
Okay, I want to get into that.
Yeah, we're doing the samething with lead service lines.
That's an initiative right now.
Yes, I want to talk about thatlater too.

Speaker 2 (35:16):
Okay, yeah, we're doing the same thing with that,
and so I've always been.
I like to think, forwardthinking or progressive, and
I've never liked to be in ameeting where someone says, well
, that's the way we've alwaysdone it.
If that was the case, we'dstill be in a horse and buggy,

(35:39):
because that's the way we alwaysdone it Now.
I'm not.
I'm not a proponent, proponentof change for the sake of change
.
But let's not, let's not likebe narrow minded and not be open
to ideas of change that couldhelp with efficiency, they could

(36:00):
help with safety, it could helpwith a bunch of other things.
But we have to be open and wetry it.
And, like I tell my staff allthe time, I would be more upset
with them if they didn't trysomething and just stuck with
the status quo.
Then, if they tried somethingwith good intentions and if it

(36:21):
failed, well then we just we'lldo an after action report and
look at well, why did it fail?
Or maybe the idea itself isn'ta bad idea, maybe we just
executed it incorrectly.
So I, I I like to fail forward,then stay stagnant.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Okay, well, you, you teeing me up, man.
You like every like.
The end of your answers is justgetting right into, if it flows
very well.
You mentioned a couple ofthings.
You said staff and men.
You've talked off Mike and Ican say, you know, when I
mentioned leadership earlier on,uh, we've talked off Mike just
about.
You know, um, you know life ingeneral but, but our work and

(37:04):
things like that.
One of the things that stickswith me all the time is you're
very consistent, um, I would saywith you know empowering your
staff.
Um, you know, talking about thestaff just a few minutes ago.
You know empowering your staff,um, you know, talking about the
staff just a few minutes ago.
You know, when we were, we wereoff mic, you were talking about
just just giving a shout out,checking up on staff.
You know giving a showing, someappreciation with a phone call,

(37:24):
like I'm very, very big on that.
Um, my question to you is likewhat personal values or
experience guide you, you know,as a, in your role as a director
?

Speaker 2 (37:34):
values or experience guide you.
You know, as a in your role asa director, that's a tough one.
Um, first and foremost, mysuccess and we'll put it up in
air quotes there Uh, my successas a director is directly
correlated with the success andeffort of my staff, with the

(37:55):
success and effort of my staff,and I feel any leader of any
organization, whether it'sprivate, public, political
you're only as good as the staffthat is performing the
day-to-day duties.
For instance, today I'm heredoing a podcast, but I have

(38:16):
great people doing a great jobmaking sure that, in this hour,
that the million gallons ofwater that's leaving the
filtration plant is right, it'ssafe, it meets all EPA standards
and guidelines and I don't haveto sweat it or be concerned

(38:38):
about it, because I have trustin my staff, I have faith in my
staff and I've learned throughthe years.
Because it sounds profound now,but nine years ago, when I
started this in this position, Ispent a lot of time
micromanaging and it took me acouple years talking to people,

(39:04):
talking to mentors, getting deepin the personal development, to
realize that.
You know, I went into themindset like, well, I know how
to do this.
I started as a labor.
I worked my way all the way up,so I know all these jobs, so
this is the way you should do it.

(39:25):
This is the way.
Well, then I realized thatthings were getting done and
they were getting done right.
Things were getting done andthey were getting done right.
But once I started to empowerthe staff to make their own ways
, make their own decisionsstaying within the guardrails

(39:47):
because we're always mandated byEPA mandates and regulations
but giving them ownership of oftheir job and their
responsibilities made thembetter employees, made them buy
into what the vision was of andis of the water department,

(40:14):
because now they they have anownership stake in it.
They, you know, they know thatI'm giving them the
responsibility to make decisions.
And again I, like I said before, I don't mind if they make a
bad decision.
If they make a bad decision butthey had good intentions, then

(40:36):
let's just sit down, talk aboutwhat made it.
A bad outcome Might still be agood decision, it's just maybe
it was executed poorly and wecan move forward.
But I would never discipline mystaff or berate my staff for

(40:56):
making a decision as long as itwas made with good intentions.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
What would if you had a staff member sitting here,
you weren't in the room?
How would they?
What would you say?
How would they describe yourleadership style?

Speaker 2 (41:13):
And I thought about this one because, uh, I I wonder
about it quite often.
Number one demanding, but notdemanding in the sense that I
need production from you.
Demanding in the sense that I'mgoing to hold you accountable

(41:33):
because I'm going to give youthe freedom to make decisions to
move the organization forward.
So I'm demanding, but thedemanding is the accountability.
I want you to be heldaccountable and if you make a

(41:55):
mistake, own up to it.
Don't, don't, don't makeexcuses, don't make you know it
was, hey, it was Deshaun's faultor nope, it's.
You know the buck stops hereand I know throughout the whole
department the buck stops withme.
But at each individual levelsof leadership in the department

(42:19):
there's a buck that stops withthem and whether it's their
division and their divisionsuperintendent and leader or
manager within another division,make the decisions.
Don't come knock on my doorbecause you want validation for

(42:39):
your decision and then, if it'sbad, you can say well, franco
said hey, yeah, sure, go with it.
I don't want to do that.
I want to empower people tofeel comfortable and secure, to
know that they can makedecisions and they can make
wrong decisions, because none ofus are perfect.

(42:59):
We're all failed creaturesunder God's eyes in one form or
another.
Make the decision, make thedecision for the right reason
and then, hopefully, it worksout good.
If it doesn't, we'll re-examineit and then we'll make
adjustments.
However, we need to makeadjustments, but uh, what?

(43:22):
What I put down was accountableand driven after demanding,
because I I expect performance,but it doesn't have to be
perfect performance, it just hasto be performance.

(43:42):
And one of the things above allelse and I've said this a
million times there may bebetter operators out there,
there may be better secretariesout there, there may be better,
but if you're loyal and you'reloyal to the organization, we

(44:04):
could work on making you abetter operator.
We could work on making you abetter secretary or a better
data entry.
I look for people that areloyal to the organization, that
take pride in what they're doing, because those ones are
coachable and we can coach themup and we know we have the solid

(44:25):
person in the right place.
And then then you go throughthe the gyrations of making sure
that it's my responsibility tomake sure I have people on the
right seat on the bus, becausenot everybody's cut out for
certain seats on the bus and ifthey're not in the right seat.

(44:45):
That's not their fault.
Now that's on me and I have totake ownership of that and I, I
take.
Uh, I'm a firm believer intaking ownership.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
How does your local upbringing here?
Because you are worn?
You are worn, absolutely, youknow, like many out there, but
how does your local and yourupbringing influence your
approach to serving this city?

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Pride.
It comes down to pride as muchas the city of Warren has been
through, and I just happened tobe born at one of those stages
where Warren sort of peaked inthe 60s.
And I was born in the 60s and Iwas born in the 60s and I've
watched the decline inpopulation, the decline in

(45:42):
business leaving and steel millsleaving and Delphi leaving and
whatnot.
And fortunately now I've beenaround long enough to see the
phoenix sort of rising from theashes of all that decline.
And I've been blessed againbecause of my mentor, bob Davis,

(46:07):
because of Mayor Doug Franklin,who saw enough in me to give me
the opportunity.
He gave me the opportunity tomake a difference and not just
run the water department and runthe utilities, but the

(46:28):
opportunity to make a difference.
What can we do on a daily basisin the city of Warren and the
surrounding communities that wesupply water to?
What can we do to make adifference?
We've got the basics down.
We know that I'm confident mystaff, on a day-to-day basis, is

(46:50):
going to put out good water,safe water and water for
industry.
And I tell all employees when Iinterview them for a position
that I don't want them to lookat this as a government job or
as a city position.
I want them to look atthemselves as a water

(47:11):
professional.
Because right now, as we'respeaking today, there's some 16
or 17 year old young mother thathas an infant and she's trying
to figure out how to be a mom,she's trying to figure out how
to take care of a baby and she'sgot to make formula.
Today she's gonna make formulaout of the water that we're

(47:34):
putting out there and that's anewborn child that we have the
responsibility of putting thewater out.
So that young, that young kidat 16, 17, who's trying to be a
mom, they shouldn't have toworry about.

(47:55):
Well, is this water safe for mybaby's formula?
And then, on the flip side, wehave nursing homes around here
and somebody's grandmother orgrandfather right now the nurse
is coming through at the nursinghome or at the hospital giving
them their medications for theday.
That's helping them theirmedications for the day.
That's helping them to survive,for the day they're drinking

(48:19):
our water.
So that water's got to be right.
So we're taking care ofeverybody, from cradle to end of
life.
Because and to me that's that'sthat's such an awesome
responsibility that if you, ifyou change your, your mindset

(48:44):
and you change the paradigm ofoh, I'm a city worker to oh,
hold on, I'm a professional andwhat I do is important.
It could help lives, it couldchange lives.
It gives you a differentperspective when you're going to
work on a daily basis, or atleast I hope it does.

(49:06):
It's a change of mindset.
It's a change, you know.
Yeah, it's a change of mindset.
And then all of us, no matterwhat we do, you know you want to
be proud of what you do on aday-to-day basis and I take
great pride in the fact that wedo get to make a difference.

Speaker 1 (49:27):
Legacy In your position.
What do you hope your legacy tobe in your role as as director?
I mean, you still got another40 years to serve as director.
You're still young, you know so.
But when this is, when this isall done, what do you want your
legacy to be?
I?

Speaker 2 (49:44):
I was thinking about that this morning.
But I I want my legacy when,when people look back, um, I
want them to know that I I was.
I was constantly looking forways to innovate and streamline
our current operations, butalways with an eye for the

(50:06):
future needs of the city ofwarren and the water department
and the changes that I've.
Off into the sunset I can sitthere and be proud of what I

(50:41):
brought to the table.
I'd like to think that when Ido that, I will have left the
water department in a betterplace than when I received it,
and I received it in a goodplace.
But I want to leave it in abetter place than when I
received it and I received it ina good place.
But I want to leave it in abetter place and I really do
want people to to know and tounderstand that I cared and I

(51:09):
cared about how not only we didbusiness, because the water
department is a business.
There's a budget to keep, wehave revenue in, expenses out
but I want people to understandthat I cared and I always made

(51:29):
the decisions that I thoughtwere best for the present with
an eye on the future.
And that's how I try to and Itell my staff this sometimes
also that if you make a decisionduring the day, whatever that
decision may be professionally,if you can go to bed at night

(51:52):
and it's not bothering you whenyou put your head on the pillow,
then whether it was a gooddecision or a bad decision, it's
okay Because we could review ittomorrow.
If you go to bed at night andthat decision you made is
keeping you awake and I'm guiltyof it just like anybody else

(52:18):
Then I go into work the nextmorning and I have a staff
meeting and say, hey, look, youknow, I know what I said
yesterday and I know that was mydecision yesterday.
It just didn't sit well with meand I don't think I made that
decision for the right reasons.
It may even be a good decision,but if you're not making those

(52:41):
decisions for the right reasonssomewhere along the way, that
decision is not going to benefitthe department and or the city
and the citizens as much as itcould have is.
If you make the decisions forthe right reasons, how do you?

Speaker 1 (53:02):
um, did research.
You do a lot of volunteering,your community involved.
It's on your website, kind ofyou know.
But how do you, how do youbalance, man, like the like, the
enormous professional life, thethings that you have with the
community involvement, with thevolunteering, and then pushing

(53:23):
that just your time, like how doyou balance all that?

Speaker 2 (53:27):
Well, nine years in, I'm much better than what I used
to be.
When I first started in thisposition, I was terrible.
If you gave me a grade from Ato F, I was an F minus.
I was all consumed with work,took away from family, took away

(53:50):
from community as a whole,because I was so concerned of
proving that I belonged, thatthat was my primary focus and

(54:11):
all I wanted to do was and anddo well and get things done.
Uh, through the years now I'veI've gotten better at the the
work life balance and I I I saythat in the sense that I've gone
from that f minus I might be ac.

(54:33):
I might even maybe even givemyself a C plus every once in a
while, but I am getting betterat that balance because I've
learned through the years thatby creating the balance it makes
me better at both.
So professionally I'm betterbecause of the balance and

(54:54):
personally I'm better at thebalance and I've gotten better
at saying no.
At the beginning I used to sayyes to everything.
You need me for a meeting yes.
You need me for this event yes,you need me for it was yes for
everything, because I was tryingto please people and I was
trying to prove that I belong.

(55:16):
And then, looking back, I feelthat a lot of people weren't,
weren't getting the best of me.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
No, it was a very powerful sentence.
Sure, it's very powerful.
So, briefly, tell me, whatwould you tell the 18 year old
Franco, y'all just sitting, andwould you tell him?

Speaker 2 (55:47):
lots of ways that life is going to put pressure on
you, naturally, let alone youputting the pressure on yourself
and then go with the five rule.
When you have to make adecision, think about okay, five
minutes from now, is thisdecision that important?

(56:09):
Five days from now, what isthis decision going to be?
Five months from now?
And or five years?
In five years, is this decisionthat I'm stressing over big
time this morning?
How big of a deal is it goingto be in five months?
Or how big of a deal is itgoing to be in five years?

(56:31):
And you'll take a lot of stressoff yourself, whether it be an
18 year old, whether it be a 28year old or 38 year old, and
just don't put so much pressureon yourself to have to make the
right decision, because we'regoing to go through life making
wrong decisions every day, nomatter what age.

(56:51):
Ain't that the?

Speaker 1 (56:52):
truth.
Ain't that the truth?
Your one word?
Of course I always explain thisis that you know everybody.
I like to find out what, what,what.
My guess one word is if therewas a word to define or closely
define, or what they exude orwhat they find important, it
keeps them going or motivate,inspire them.
What is your one word?

Speaker 2 (57:11):
determined, and with determined there's a lot that
can fall underneath that, butmainly for me, if you're going
to take something on, if I'mgoing to take something on,
whether, whether it be a project, whether it be a job I am

(57:33):
determined to see it through andI'm determined to make it a
success and be the best at itwhile I'm doing it.
And does it always work outthat way?
No, but if you're determinedenough, with that determination
will come the consistency, andwith the consistency will come

(57:59):
the habits, and with the habitswill come the outcome.
But you have to be determinedto put in the effort.
And as long as you'redetermined to put in the effort,
good things happen.

Speaker 1 (58:12):
True story Everybody thinks that the D in the D5
group, the marketing agency,means Deshaun.
It doesn't.
It's determined is one of thefive Ds that describes the
company.
So that's one of my own.
That's cool, did you knowthings?
But yes, I did not know that.
Yes, sir, it has nothing to dowith me.
My name is you know.
It's just a coincidence thatyou know what I mean.

(58:33):
Determination and diligence andall those discernment, all
those start with D, has nothingto do with Deshaun, though, like
the letter D.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
So see, see, you learn something new every day.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
All right, we got a random question round.
You see this yellow piece ofpaper in front of me and I
always I do these like a littlebit before the show, Like you
know I sit and you know justkind of think of some random.
I always find it interesting.
If I throw a party, you'll haveto come, because I'm always
asking like weird randomquestions and stuff.
You ready?
Yep, All right, Fill in thisblank.
Every young man should own.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Every young man should own a watch.
Own a watch because I've gonethrough life and and it drives
my, my family, crazy, drivespeople at work crazy.
If you're not 10 minutes early,you're late, and that that's.
Every man should own a watch.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
I remember you, uh, when we were talking about the
time you said you said I'm goingto be here a little before that
8 45 and you are.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
You are early.

Speaker 1 (59:33):
I was parked outside at 8 30 yeah if you could hang
out with a fictional characterfor a day, what character would
it be?

Speaker 2 (59:42):
fictional, fictional, fictional fictional character,
holy cow.
That Holy cow, that one's atough one.
I guess I would say RockyBalboa.
And I'm saying that because itleads back to my word of
determination.

(01:00:02):
He was determined, wasn't themost talented, wasn't the most
gifted, but with determinationgreat things can happen.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
If you had a theme song that played every time you
spoke?
Because you do public speakingtoo, so every time you come out
on stage a theme song play.
You can only choose one.
What song would that be?
Frank Sinatra.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
I did it my way OK.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
You know what I thought you was going to say
After answering that with Rocky.
I thought you was going to saythe theme to Rocky.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
No, that'd be for working out at the gym.

Speaker 1 (01:00:41):
Okay, If you could be president for any historical
event what event.
Would that have been?

Speaker 2 (01:00:50):
President for a historical event, I would have
to say, uh, I would.
I would have been.
I think I would have been wellsuited to be president during
world war ii.
Historically I'm a history buff.
I think that that's the eventthat I want to be present for

(01:01:13):
okay we both have.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
We have daughters, and so this is a, this is.
I can remember telling mydaughter this um my, my three.
But what three traits should agentleman have?

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
number one he's got to respect you, because with
respect comes a a lot of otherthings.
Got to be loving, because I Iwant my daughter to have a
loving relationship and a manthat will respect her, a man

(01:01:51):
that will respect her.
And the third one, I guess,would be I'd want a man that is
not obsessive but protective ofmy daughter, meaning not
protective from you know,they're jealous or things of

(01:02:16):
that nature but to make surethat my daughter's always safe,
that my daughter's taken care ofthat.
Uh, in the sense that you'reputting her in a safe
environment and you're takingcare of her.
If you guys are walking downthe streets of downtown warner,
downtown la, I know that mydaughter's okay Cause she's with
you, cause you're going toprotect her.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Yeah, it's uh, my mother-in-law gave me this after
after Erica passed and uh itwas.
At first it caught me off guard, like what is this?
But it was a thank you keychain for being a great
son-in-law and loving herdaughter and protecting her
daughter and those things overthe year.
So I'm just going out and like,absolutely so, I knew what you

(01:02:57):
meant, like you know, protectiveand things like that.

Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
You know what I mean Versus the other thing, but we
wind up.

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
um, I do want to hit this because we cannot end this
without talking about it.
Is the the initiative Like?
I want to put that out there.
So can you briefly tell ouraudience about that?

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
Sure, the city warned .
We were fortunate enough to bechosen by the federal EPA for
their GLOW initiative, which isan acronym for Get the Lead Out,
because, as we all learned fromthe Flint Michigan tragedy
years ago, lead service linesgoing into individual homes just

(01:03:36):
aren't a good thing.
Now in the city of Warren,we're fortunate because the way
we treat our water, we coat ourlead service lines and we base
it off of our pH level andtreatment of water and treatment

(01:03:56):
of water, so we don't actuallyhave acidic water that leaches
the lead out of the line intothe home.
But nonetheless, the only wayto guarantee that you don't have
lead and you're not ingestinglead when you're drinking it is
to get rid of the lead servicelines.
With this GLOW initiative, theEPA has come in.
They'd offered us services,technical services, they they've
offered us marketing servicesand they've also offered us

(01:04:20):
services as far as contractorsout there digging and looking
for these lead water lines,because, as you can imagine,
having records that are 100years old, 120 years old, some
of the records are accurate,some of the records are not
accurate.
So sometimes the only way we'regoing to know if there's a lead
service line going into thisparticular address is if we dig

(01:04:43):
a hole and actually look the EPAin this project.
Out of 199 communitiesnationwide, warren was fortunate
enough to be one of them and Ibelieve that they're using this
as a pilot study, that they'regoing to put this initiative out
as a mandate in the upcomingyears.
So what we're doing right nowwe are very close to finishing

(01:05:06):
our lead line inventory that'srequired by the EPA, by the
state of ohio, epa, by october.
So at that point we will have auh, an inventory of where the
lead lines are in the city ofwarren.
Then we're going to worktogether with the epa for
possible funding mechanisms,whether it be grants, whether it

(01:05:28):
be loans, and then we are goingto systematically start
replacing those lead lines inthe city of Warren.
And I feel that it's veryimportant in the sense that most
lead lines are in older homes,older sections of Warren, rental

(01:05:49):
properties in the section ofWarren.
So the ones that are going tobe most affected by lead lines
are the ones that least canafford it, the socioeconomic
disadvantaged children of thecity of Warren.
So we have an obligation to putthis effort in and take it

(01:06:09):
seriously to get rid of theselead lines.
So that's one less obstaclethat a young five-year-old
that's living in an olderneighborhood.
That's one less obstacle theyhave to overcome and that's our
responsibility.
And I want to thank MayorFranklin for helping the Water

(01:06:33):
Department get chosen for thatinitiative and supporting it One
hundred and ten percent.
Him and Director Colbert havedone nothing but say yes
whenever I have a request fromthe administration for this and
they're on board.
One hundred ten percent and Icouldn't ask for more.

Speaker 1 (01:06:52):
Two good gentlemen professionally and personally,
absolutely.
So, wrapping this up, how canpeople stay connected with the
water department, or utilitiesand or you?

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
Okay, Well, as always , they can go to the City of
Warren webpage and all ourcontact information is on there.
My email email is F Luccarelli.
It's F L u CA RE LL I at Warrenorg.
And then also now you can go tothe war and water department

(01:07:25):
Facebook page.
We are starting that and tryingto figure out how to utilize it
the best we can.
But you can always leave acomment, leave a message, report
a water main break a complaint.
We're not afraid of negativecomments.
We can only learn from thenegative comments and from the

(01:07:46):
public.
And you can go to the City ofWarren Facebook page.
It also reaches from there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:52):
Well, I appreciate it , sir, taking your time to be
here on this podcast.
You know we batten a thousandwith cool people being on here.

Speaker 2 (01:07:58):
I absolutely love that I appreciate the
opportunity.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
No, man, I definitely wanted to get you on here and,
just, you know, just have aconversation, because even off
mic we had some really reallygood conversations, man, and
you're doing some incrediblethings out here.
Some really really goodconversations, man, and you're
doing some incredible things outhere and sometimes you just
don't think about that, right,you just think you know water or
whatever, and you're talkingabout the filtration department
and that front line and thingslike that.
We could have went on and onjust with the science and the

(01:08:24):
things that go on.
But nonetheless, man, I really,truly appreciate you being on
here.
Thank, you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Thank you, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:36):
All right, folks, we are signing out here at Sound
United Presents.
I want to thank you for hittingthat play button, looking
forward to capturing your earsin the next episode.
This episode was produced bythe Sound United Podcast Studio,
led by Kimberly Gonzalez.
Photography and video contentproduced by the D5 group.
And be sure to visit ourwebsite, soundunitedpresentscom,

(01:08:58):
where you can catch up on allthe episodes and get some behind
the scenes content.
I'm Deshaun Scott.
Thank you for listening.
Ready to launch a podcast orcreate standout audio content?

(01:09:19):
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(01:09:39):
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