Long-Time Employee Found Career, Love on Highway

When power was finally restored in Horsham Township following downed wires and trees in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the township's highway superintendent, William Pietzsch, was first to know.

Township Manager Bill Walker said he called to let Pietzsch know and was surprised to hear the township employee of 42 years say that he was not only aware, but that he was on scene. 

"Instead of being at home and in bed sleeping he was worried about his roads," Walker said during a recent Horsham Township Council meeting in which Pietzsch, who retires on Dec. 27, was recognized for his decades of service. "That says something about Bill."

"Your name is synonymous with Horsham Township as far as our highway department goes," Horsham Township Council President Mark McCouch said. 

Pietzsch, who began working for the township in 1971 as a mechanic, rose through the ranks to foreman and eventually highway superintendent. While still fairly new on the job, Pietzsch said he met his wife, who had worked in the township's office. 

"She’s been with me for the last 40 years," he said, adding that she's been asking him the last few years when he would retire. "Once you get it in your blood you want to keep on going."