Bill Taylor hired as city’s new utilities foreman

The City of Grant has found the successor to Utilities Foreman Gary Beckler.

City Superintendent Edward Dunn announced one of Beckler’s assistants—Bill Taylor—will take over the position.

Beckler plans to retire next April after being with the city more than 30 years. 

Taylor will shadow Beckler during the interim before taking over in April. 

Taylor, a Grant native, has been with the utility department for the past five years. He’s excited about taking over the new position, 

He said he’s been involved with many of the street, water and sewer projects that have taken place during his tenure, in addition to making sure trash gets picked up.

Running the trash route is not a not a full time job “so anything else that needs to be done, I’ve pretty much been in on it,” he said. 

Those various experiences will be helpful as he prepares to step into the new role. 

With a long-time employee like Beckler retiring, the city could lose a lot of institutional knowledge. 

But Taylor said Beckler has been proactive in making sure the utilities are well mapped out. Plus, he keeps a book that has notes about utility locations, etc. 

Taylor and his wife, Jackie, have three children, Huntin, a junior; Henry, a freshman, and Billy, a seventh grader.