Executive profile: For public works leader, building a career has meant building a city

May 19, 2020

This paid piece is sponsored by the Sioux Falls Development Foundation.

In one moment, as a kid, Mark Cotter made a choice that led to a career.

One of his five siblings brought home a book of college majors, and as a young Cotter flipped through it, he made an instant decision.

“It said roads, bridges, pipelines,” he said. “And I told my sister, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do.’ And I went into civil engineering. It was honestly that simple. I went to college and never looked back.”

Growing up on a farm outside Chester, he had been inspired by what he saw happening around him.

“When you grow up in the country, you’re watching your neighbors work the fields, combine, harvest, and you’re around a lot of large equipment. And I was drawn to it and wanted to find a way to still be in it,” he said.

“One of the things that’s unique with me is I didn’t know any engineers. But ever since I was a kid, I’d get off the bus, run into the house for a quick snack and then get outside and start bending, breaking or fixing something. It was just in my DNA to be doing something hands-on.”

It led him to SDSU, where he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1992. While in college, he had a summer internship at Myrl & Roy’s Paving in Sioux Falls, the area’s leading asphalt paving contractor.

“There was never a shortage of work to do, so I worked there two summers, and they had an opening, so I took a full-time job there after graduation,” Cotter said.

As a project manager/estimator, he did everything from estimate the cost of a pothole repair to a driveway or parking lot job.

“Eventually, I was on the highway bidding team, and we would go to Pierre and work through the night putting together state bids,” he said. “That really opened my eyes to how large construction projects were bid.”

After working in the field under a professional engineer for four years, he took the professional engineering exam and became licensed.

Shortly after, he was contacted by Howard R. Green Co., an engineering firm that had just been awarded a major sanitary sewer project for the city of Sioux Falls that would open up land on the west side for development.

“At the time, they didn’t have people on the team who were ready to go to the field and help facilitate construction, so my first two years on the job I was in the field,” Cotter said. “I eventually worked my way up to site manager, doing a lot of transportation design, and started to be the acting city engineer for a number of cities in the region.”

The city of Sioux Falls was the firm’s largest client, and in 2004, disaster struck as an unprecedented rain caused sewer backups in several neighborhoods and forced the city to make significant upgrades.

While many firms were involved, Howard R. Green designed one of the eight large drainage projects and took the lead in coordinating communications.

“This project put us in a position to interface more with the city team, and there was more of an awareness of who our team was,” Cotter said. “We were very visible.”

His ability caught the eye of Mayor Dave Munson, who asked Cotter to consider becoming the city’s director of public works. It was mid-2006, and the timing was right.

“After trying for a while, I had been able to make a key hire on my team at Howard R. Green who I knew would be a perfect fit to lead the team,” Cotter said.

“So I took a leap of faith, and I’ve been at the city ever since.”

As director of public works, he oversees the city’s largest department – with a team of up to 360 people depending on the season – and a scope of responsibility that includes engineering, managing the transportation system, utilities, fleet management and environmental compliance work.

The leader whose job once involved estimating a single pothole now leads a team that fills 35,000 of them in any given season.

“I lead a talented team that shows up every day to maintain and expand the street network, keep traffic moving, deliver fresh drinking water, collect and treat the wastewater, light the streets, dispose of the garbage and keep our fleet rolling. I just really enjoy the team and the scope of the job,” he said.

“What drives me is to see a lot of well-planned activity happening at once to ultimately see a city get designed and built with input from many people.”

Cotter’s role now allows him to help develop other engineers and hands-on workers. He serves on the board of directors at Southeast Technical Institute and even took a welding class with his teenage son.

“So now we’re both certified welders,” he said. “The thing that drew me to engineering is working with your hands, and being on the Southeast Tech board allows me to continue to be part of that world.”

Cotter also is part of multiple statewide industry organizations and is president of the South Dakota Street Maintenance Association. He also was instrumental in bringing the Sioux Falls Development Foundation’s summer internship program to city of Sioux Falls offices in 2019.

“When I talk to kids, I say at the city of Sioux Falls they can come talk to a chemist or work at the landfill in an environmentally focused career or be a wastewater operator, among so many other opportunities. And our engineering team supports all city departments, so we work with everyone from building a new roadway to helping build a new fire station. It gives me great pride to see our new hires take these careers, get trained, get certified and continue to move up and take management roles in the organization.”

He now can drive around Sioux Falls and easily see areas where his skills and those of his team have left a lasting impact – from roads and neighborhoods to water mains and building projects.

“That’s one of the key things that draws people to public service, especially public works,” he said.

“In our profession, we like to build things and then look in the rearview mirror and see what we’ve built.”

The Mark Cotter file

Hometown: Chester

Alma mater: South Dakota State University

Best thing about his job: “Seeing a city get planned and developed and matured.”

When he’s not at work: “I like to spend time with family, my wife, Denise, and our three kids: Kenley, Haden and Gavin. You can bet we will be outside enjoying the outdoors. I love to hunt, fish, and if you see my garage and the tools, we like to build projects.”

Favorite place in Sioux Falls: “Running along the southern section of the bike trail. It’s just beautiful. It doesn’t feel like you’re in the city when you’re out for a run, and you can see the water moving.”

To get connected to workforce development opportunities in the Sioux Falls area, visit win.siouxfallsdevelopment.com.

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Executive profile: For public works leader, building a career has meant building a city

You probably know him as the leader behind the city’s street repair, snow removal and more. But here’s how Mark Cotter got where he is today.

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