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For nearly 27 years, Mike Hanson has been the Public Works director for Mower County and has been integral in the process of reviving and maintaining the county’s infrastructure.

However, earlier this year Hanson took a step toward retirement by entering into phased retirement.

This new phased retirement allows Hanson to retain his title, retain salary for half the normal hours worked and is a mutual agreement between the employee and the county for no more than five years.

“I’m the Public Works director, but I’m more of an advisor doing work,” he said.

But it allows Hanson to continue doing the work he has thoroughly enjoyed for nearly three decades.

Hanson is an Albert Lea native, where he continues to live, but his connection to Austin has been enriched over the years starting with him attending Austin Junior College, now Riverland Community College.

There he studied pre-engineering, calculus, physics and mathematics before transferring to the University of Minnesota where he attained a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1975.

This followed this time starting in April of 1976 with consulting firm Jones, Haugh & Smith Inc, which he was with through 1998, first as an engineer from 1976 to 1980 and then as a partner from 1980 to 1998.

“It wasn’t so much the grass is greener,” Hanson said. “The thought in my mind was you’re going to live once. What are you going to do? What do you want to do?”

“This opportunity came along because I was doing a lot of the county work,” he continued. “At the time I was doing the bulk of the plan review and signature and everything else for the county behind the scenes because I had an engineer’s license.”

With that, Hanson went from private to public with Mower County and quickly began work on the county’s infrastructure needs, including its roads which needed quick attention.

However, Hanson said Wednesday that it was the nearly 400 bridges in the county that needed the attention.

“When I came in the bridges were probably the biggest challenge,” Hanson said. “We have 370 bridges. Since I’ve been here we’ve replaced 201 of those. That’s a pretty good clip for replacing things.”

The road projects morphed from regrading and widening early on in Hanson’s time to sustaining the 405 miles of roads within the county.

Replacing and maintaining all of that infrastructure was a major undertaking with a large price tag, but during Hanson’s time and with his support, county commissioners adopted a half-sent sales tax.

Revenue raised from that sales-tax went directly toward these infrastructure needs and continues to do so. Next year, commissioners will have to decide on whether or not to continue the tax for another 10 years.

Hanson said that the work the county has been able to do up until now has created a strong argument for keeping it in place.

“It really does,” Hanson said. “We were starting to get some negative feedback about the condition of our roads. This made our whole system better and made the public realize they are doing something about this. It’s not being wasted. It made a difference.”

“It took four, five years to get that and we did that without a lot of outside help and with just the staff we have here,” he added.

Hanson went on to laud the commissioners he’s worked with over the years as well as the staff, saying that that kind of support made the time he’s had and continues to have with the county worth remembering.

“One of the most important things in my career here at the county has been not only the great board and administration we have in place, but also the great team of people I have the privilege to work with every day here at our office and in other county departments,” Hanson said. “I’ve truly enjoyed working with them all.”