Retiring Oswego public works director honored

As Oswego public works director and village engineer, Jennifer Hughes oversaw many important projects, including the Wolfs Crossing road widening project.

During the April 8 Oswego Village Board meeting, Village President Ryan Kauffman and Village Administrator Dan Di Santo thanked Hughes for her efforts. Hughes, who started with Oswego in November 2013, officially retired from the village on April 8.

Last fall, the village hired Curtis Cassidy as its new public works director. As part of the transition, he worked with Hughes.

Cassidy previously had been public works director for the city of Mesquite, Texas.

She will take on a new role after being elected to a two-year term on the Oswego Village Board in the April 1 consolidated election. At the meeting, Kauffman read a proclamation honoring Hughes for her service to the village.

“Jennifer’s leadership and expertise have transformed the Oswego Public Works Department, modernizing its operations through the integration of data analytics in all areas, including streets, facilities, forestry, utilities and engineering,” Kauffman said in reading the proclamation.

He noted that Hughes was honored in 2023 with the American Public Works Association’s Top Ten Public Works Leaders of the Year award. After reading the proclamation, Kauffman made some personal observations.

“In 2015, when I was elected village trustee for the first time, that’s when I got to know Jennifer,” he said. “I very quickly learned Jennifer was very much a key person in the village of Oswego. And I made a comment at that time, after I got to know her a little bit. I remember saying, ‘I sleep better at night knowing that Jennifer Hughes is behind the wheel at public works.’ I stand by those words and have ever since.”

Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said Hughes “is the perfect mix of hard work, intelligence, compassion, enthusiasm and fun.”

“Looking back, Jen is the person who professionalized our public works department and brought it from that of a small town to the bustling suburb that we are today in Oswego,” he said. “The community will benefit for decades from Jen’s hard work.”

That includes her work on widening Wolfs Crossing.

“When she first arrived in Oswego, she knew she had to do something about Wolfs Crossing,” Di Santo said. “A two-lane farm road was not going to cut it for a major east-west corridor in our growing town.”

In December 2023, the village’s first roundabout opened at Wolfs Crossing and Harvey Road as part of the first segment of the Wolfs Crossing improvement project.

Wolfs Crossing is a east-west corridor in Oswego that spans 4.5 miles, from Route 34 to Eola Road. The improvement project is divided into 10 segments.

Hughes thanked her co-workers for their help.

“We are super blessed in Oswego,” she said. “We have wonderful, incredibly talented individuals who live here and serve on our public works team and serve on our police department. ... I can’t tell you how grateful I am and fortunate to have this career.”