by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Ray Rountree, a survey research analyst in the City’s Public Works Department, said he has seen a lot of people come and go since the first day he clocked in for work. That list includes eight mayors.
On his first day on the job, Dec. 8, 1958, Haydon Burns was Jacksonville’s chief executive. Rountree recalled that as he read the congratulatory letter he received Monday from Mayor John Peyton recognizing his 50 years of service to the City.
“I was a baker in the Army and I got out on Oct. 8, 1958. Exactly two months later, I went to work for the City of Jacksonville and I’ve been here ever since,” said Rountree.
A lot has changed since then, he added.
“When I started I worked on the back of a truck and we patched roads,” he said. “I made $1.22 an hour and we did it all by hand. We paved Edgewood Avenue from Post Street to Cassat Avenue with shovels. The City didn’t own any road equipment back then.”
Several years later Rountree took the rodman’s test and joined a survey crew. He was promoted to survey research analyst in 1972, “And I’ve been in the office ever since,” he said. Rountree has encyclopedic knowledge of the City’s survey maps and can often answer questions about roads and property lines off the top of his head without consulting the maps or blueprints.
In addition to the letter from Peyton, Rountree got a digital watch from his coworkers in the Survey Customer Service Office on the 10th floor of the Ed Ball Building. It had a note attached to make sure Rountree knows the watch has a “nap timer,” but he said he has no plans to retire and put his feet up any time soon.
“With this job, every day is different, so it never gets boring,” said Rountree.
Photo by Max Marbut
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