The city’s public works director — the top boss for 12 departments — is retiring after more than three decades as an employee of the City of Vicksburg.

James Thomas “Bubba” Rainer, 61, is leaving his city post on April 15.

“After 35 years, you just have to think about it,” Rainer said.

“Thirty-five years is a pretty long time.”

His decision to retire came in January and it was an easy one, he said.

“I have a couple of things out there that I could possibly do if I wanted to,” he said, “and the nice thing is — if I don’t want to do anything, I don’t have to.”

He said he will first try retirement with his wife, Tricia, who retired last year from the Vicksburg Warren School District administrative office.

She went back to work as a consultant shortly after, and Rainer said he would accept that kind of offer.

The couple plans to make more visits to see their 28-year-old daughter, Anna, who lives and works in New Orleans.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman has worked with Rainer since 1993.

“I hate to see him go,” Beauman said. “He’s a wonderful person, very knowledgeable in his job. He’s fair and he’s a good friend.”

Public works coordinator Vicky McMillan, who has worked for Rainer for 11 years, said, “I’m sad to see him go. He’s one of the best Christians, a family man, a friend.”

“We certainly appreciate Bubba and all the fine work he’s done,” Mayor Paul Winfield. “He’s an asset.”

Rainer, a Yazoo City native who grew up in the same neighborhood as Gov. Haley Barbour, moved to Vicksburg in 1977, the year he graduated from Mississippi State University with a civil engineering degree and began working for the Mississippi Department of Transportation. He worked there for a year before being hired as an engineer for the city.

He was appointed the public works director, a management position, in 1986 following the retirement of longtime public works director Garnet Van Norman Sr., whom he credits, along with former City Clerk Marie Pantoliano, as being instrumental in his career.

Pantoliano “was a very detailed-oriented person,” he said. “You either did it right or do it again. The records they keep up with and the way things need to be done are important.”

Van Norman was public works director for more than 40 years, and Pantoliano was the city clerk for about as long, he said.

Rainer said the best part of his job was going to work daily.

“Every day is a challenge up here, and it’s just about a different challenge each day,” he said. “The variety of what you have to deal with — a water break, a sewer break — everything is different. Those are the things I enjoy doing.”

He recalled the time in September 2006 when Vicksburg faced a two-day water outage following a land shift caused by a blow in the main water pipe near the Port of Vicksburg.

“The city had no water, and we really didn’t know how long it was going to take us to get it back,” he said. “Your mind starts racing, trying to figure out what we have to do and where do we have to go. Everybody pulled together, and we were lucky. That one special closure piece that we needed we found in Hattiesburg. We sent somebody down there and by the time they got back, we had everything cleared and ready to go to put it back together. We had water going within 12 hours, which I would have never guessed.”

Rainer, a mathematically inclined individual and licensed professional engineer and land surveyor in Mississippi, said while he will not be the on-call person for future emergencies, he will instinctively want to help.

“I will always worry,” he said with a smile.

While no official replacement has been named, Beauman did say that longtime engineer for the city Garnet Van Norman Jr. is a possible candidate.

“We talked a lot about Garnet Van Norman,” Beauman said. “He’s qualified to step in.”

“Public works is one of the most critical functions of city government,” Winfield added. “Whoever we name will have to fill all of those dynamics. There’s a lot of responsibilities.”

Garnet Van Norman Jr., 57, has been an engineer with the city for 20 years. Before that, he worked in a private engineering practice for 15 years.

He is a civil engineering graduate of MSU and a licensed professional engineer and surveyor in Mississippi.

The public works director, who reports directly to Board of Mayor and Aldermen, oversees 12 departments: street, sanitation, sewer, water, gas, animal control, traffic and engineering departments, as well as city cemetery, right of way, water treatment plant and waste water treatment plant. The director also is in charge of personnel matters within his departments.

This top boss reviews plans, programs and practices in municipal public works and serves as the chief liaison between the city and engineering consultants, as well as review their plans, specifications and technical reports.

Final inspection on major construction projects within the city come from the director.

Salary for a public works director is $47,250 tto $84,000, depending on experience.