Making a Difference for 30 Years

Making a Difference for 30 Years

April 1, 2016

Heneghan & Associates, P.C., civil engineers and surveyors, celebrated 30 years in business in March. Founded in 1986 by Dean Heneghan, with six original firm members and a small handful of clients, the firm has grown to over 30 employees spread among four Illinois offices located in Centralia, Columbia, Godfrey, and Jerseyville.

Heneghan & Associates, P.C., is a multi-disciplined consulting firm that provides professional engineering and surveying services to both public and private-sector clients. Their 11 engineers and 4 surveyors have a combined 300+ years of experience.

Some of the professional services provided by Heneghan and Associates, P.C. includes transportation engineering, land planning/development (residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational), environmental engineering (water, wastewater, stormwater), surveying, and funding assistance.

Bob Manns, President, says, “the Company’s success over the years is due to “a strong sense of client service and attention to detail, provided at a local level.”

Pictured here are the employees of Heneghan & Associates’ Jerseyville office.  Front row; Scott Peabody, Destiny Holder, Sarah Harding, Mary Blotna, Emily Fortschneider, Ronnie Paul. Second row; Roger Shaw, Brandon Egelhoff, Josh Stumpe, Seth Elliott, Bob Manns, Kevin Nichols. Back row; Kenny Woelfel, Adam Lott, Kevin Gunterman, Curt Westrich, Eli Molloy, Craig Thurston, Mark Baalman.

Heneghan & Associates has been a pioneer in the creation and expansion of rural water systems in Illinois over the past 30 years. Some notable contributions have been:

• major water main relocation/upgrade projects for Jersey County Rural Water Company associated with the Highway 67 roadway expansion project;
• startup rural water systems in Greene, Calhoun, and Macoupin Counties;
• and the award-winning Gateway Regional Water treatment system, where over a dozen communities and rural water systems combined into a new regional entity, complete with raw water intake at Carlyle Lake, state-of-the-art water treatment plant, distribution mains, and elevated storage tanks.

The Company has also enjoyed a steady land surveying workload over the years, ranging from single lot surveys to 300-acre farm surveys to land parcel surveys for the Illinois Department of Transportation.  The survey department also provides topographical surveying in support of engineering designs, as well as construction staking for contractors.

As we’ve grown, the firm has expanded its engineering services to include many facets of public works projects – transportation, sanitary sewer, stormwater, and land development.

A few local examples of our work are:

• Engineering design/surveying services for two phases of Delhi to Brighton Road for the Jersey County Highway Department;
• Fairgrounds Avenue roadway rehabilitation, Curtis/Adams stormwater improvements, and the downtown elevated tank replacement for the City of Jerseyville;
• Various parking lot/site improvements over the years at Jersey Community Hospital.

The firm has also become a leader in assisting clients in locating grant funding and low-interest financing from agencies such as USDA Rural Development, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, and many others.

“Our ability to obtain grant funding and align long-term loan financing at a fixed-rate with our clients’ project needs,” Manns explained, “has been a key to getting many infrastructure projects completed that would have otherwise not been feasible to construct.”

The Company’s philosophy of providing leadership and management opportunities for the growth and advancement of individual employees has paid dividends for the continued success of Heneghan & Associates, P.C.

Manns is one such example, working for the firm for the past 20 years in various engineering design and project management roles, before taking on his current role as President of the Company in 2013. Along with Manns, the remaining ownership group consists of other key, long-time employees Curt Westrich, Scott Peabody, Ronnie Paul, Josh Stumpe, and Seth Elliott.

Westrich oversees the roadway and land development services for the firm, Paul manages all water/wastewater services, and Stumpe is responsible for all professional surveying services and field personnel. Peabody has been with the firm all 30 years, and will retire later this year from surveying duties. Elliott is a talented civil engineer, who is also heavily involved with the multi-office computer network. Mary Blotna, with the firm for over 16 years, is the Business Manager and heads all accounting and human resource aspects of the firm.

Manns credits the firm’s longevity to; “Our loyal clients, along with dedicated and talented engineering and surveying groups, the computer-aided drafting (CAD) group, construction services personnel, grant-writers, and other technical support staff. We also take great pride in employing many local graduates from the Jersey/Calhoun/Greene/Macoupin county region.”

Some of the professional services provided by Heneghan and Associates, P.C. includes transportation engineering, land planning/development (residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational), environmental engineering (water, wastewater, stormwater), surveying, and funding assistance.

Current projects in design/construction stages include urban and rural roadway replacement projects, water and wastewater treatment plants, rural water distribution expansions, stormwater/drainage improvement projects, and IDOT surveying projects. In addition, the Company provides turn-key Design-Build services on a number of public works projects. Heneghan & Associates has assisted more than 80 communities and 30 water districts, various Counties, State agencies, and numerous private clients through the years.

The employees of Heneghan & Associates give back to the community in a number of ways. One of the more significant is an annual $500 scholarship program for high school students pursuing careers in engineering or surveying.

As you might expect they are active in various organizations with distance measurements for the local County fair tractor pulls, the JCBA Board and Committees, Rotary, various JCHS math/science/FFA/sports events, National Engineer’s Week, TRIG-STAR, CUSD 100 Foundation, Jerseyville Public Library Board, SF/HG Science Club, local Church groups, and coaching youth sports.

The Riverbend Growth Association honored Heneghan & Associates as their Small Business of the Year in 2011, and the firm also received the Local Business of the Year distinction from the Jersey County Business Association in 2014.

Manns has great pride in the firm’s partnership with the public, “by improving infrastructure, we are promoting the conditions that lead to better residential living conditions and increased home sales, as well as a better environment for attracting/retaining business and industry by having adequate capacity for water production and wastewater treatment, better roadway access and traffic flow, and improved stormwater management conditions.”

Looking to the future, “We look forward to many more years of being an active employer and community partner in Jersey County, as well as striving for long-term success as a leading surveying/engineering company in the region.”

The Company will celebrate its 30th year by hosting open house events at each of its four offices throughout 2016.

If you have any questions about the Company, or would like to discuss a project, visit their website at www.haengr.com or contact Bob Manns at rjmanns@heneghanassoc.com or 618-498-6418.