Staff Writer
He was looking for a career and thought the City, as an employer, offered stability and longevity.
Applications were submitted for truck driver, animal control and meter reader job openings.
A choice had to be made between animal control and meter reading, and after more than 30 years of service, Tim Pugh is glad he chose the latter.
“It was one of my favorite jobs,” said Pugh, who has risen to director of Outage Management Services. “I was outside, walking about six miles a day, and I was good at reading meters from far distances.”
Pugh told a story about a meter in the Arlington area that was located on the side of the road near an overpass, and he and the other meter readers would try to read it from the van while it was traveling about 30 miles an hour.
“We would go back and verify the reading,” said Pugh, “and, more often than not, I would be dead on.”
Though glad of his career choice, Pugh also thought he could have been a good animal control officer.
“I feel like I would have been a good dog catcher,” said Pugh.
Pugh said he believes he has an ability to relate to people, which helped him as he progressed to become a field service technician, mostly disconnecting service for nonpayment.
“I was promoted to field service technician when crack cocaine was really becoming a problem in the community and there were some bad places in the City,” said Pugh. “You wanted to be identifiable so people knew who you were.”
During this time Pugh developed an interest in management and returned to school to earn a bachelor’s in business management from the University of North Florida. This happened with the help of the JEA education assistance program.
It took him seven years of going to school two nights a week to earn the degree in 1998.
“It was a tough schedule,” said Pugh. “I had to focus on the balance of family, work and school. If you don’t, it’s easy to get lost in the work.”
That was particularly true in Pugh’s case when he was appointed manager of Field Services for JEA. While serving in this position, the Field Service Group implemented JEA’s first wireless field order work system and eliminated paper work tickets.
“The transition not only dealt with the technological aspect of change, but it was also a cultural transition,” said Pugh.
“People were against the electronic system and held tight to the paper tickets. But now, no one would ever give up their laptops,” he said.
Pugh has developed a pattern of taking on challenges throughout his career and the next challenge that he faced was being named manager of call center operation and JEA’s walk-in customer centers, too. This position was focused more on customer contact.
“I went from managing a staff of mostly men in the field to managing mostly women in an office environment,” said Pugh. “It was a change.”
While at this position, Pugh used the customer re-contact surveys to help improve the performance of the Customer Contact Group. The re-contact survey is conducted within 72 hours of a customer’s call and involves asking the customer a series of questions about his or her experience. Customers rank their responses from 1-10 and the scores are tallied using the results.
Pugh helped the group raise its score on the survey to 81.28 percent, the highest score in company history.
Pugh followed that assignment with a move to director of Customer Sales and Service, and then on to director of Outage Management Services, his current position.
His experiences haven’t only provided him with learning experiences on the job, but also from the job.
“I’ve learned that I’m not going to go along with the crowd if they aren’t doing the right thing,” said Pugh, when asked what he has learned about himself throughout his career. “If you feel something is wrong, don’t go along with the crowd. Trust your gut, but also learn from your mistakes.
“I also used to feel that I had to have an answer for everything,” said Pugh. “I learned it’s OK to say, ‘I don’t know’ and go find the answer.”
His life hasn’t been all about work. Pugh enjoys time with his family, fishing and surfing with his son and going to the beach with the family. He is a charter member of the San Marco Rotary Club.
Pugh also took on the responsibility of serving as the chair for the JEA United Way campaign in 2007, which raised a record $532,000. JEA, by charter, is not allowed to donate to the United Way directly, but its employees can help raise funds to donate to the organization.
“Tim Pugh is a great example of an employee who utilizes the career growth opportunities JEA offers. We invest in our employees so that they not only can reach their personal and professional aspirations, but also so that JEA can be the best possible utility for this community,” said Jim Dickenson, JEA CEO and managing director.
356-2466