Couple on the front lines 
of city's water service

LIMA — After Sept. 11, Shelley Scarberry was working for the city of Lima Utilities Department and also serving in the Air National Guard when she was called up to Afghanistan. She didn't know it, but she was pregnant.

After serving in Afghanistan, and then giving birth to her daughter, Scarberry came home to a base in Fort Wayne, Ind. She and her husband, Ed Scarberry, also a Utilities Department employee, had a decision to make. They decided to keep their family together. For 12 weeks, the Scarberrys stayed in a motel room in Fort Wayne.

Shelley was in the middle of a 1 1/2-year military leave of absence and Ed took a family medical leave to care for their daughter, Emily. The city of Lima, then, was two employees down. It's an example of the give-and-take between employers and employees, but also of a family committed to service, in multiple ways.

The Scarberrys are two people on the front lines of delivering quality water and service to residents. Shelley, 42, is a water treatment plant operator and has worked for the city since 1999. Ed, 44, is an operator in Utility Field Services, maintaining water lines, and has worked for the city since 2000. They have a lot in common; in addition to both working for the city, they are both Air Force veterans. Ed served four years, while Shelley served five years before moving to the guard for another 15 years.

The couple married in 2002. They have two children, Emily, now 8, and Jacob, 6. Ed Scarberry also has a 21-year-old son. Both working in municipal utilities and both serving in union leadership positions, it's easy to develop a shorthand about work. It's not like one is a mechanic and the other is a hairdresser, Ed said.

It would be easy to blur a lot of lines, but for the fam
ily's mental health, Ed has a mantra and the family follows it: “Work stays at work, and home stays at home.”

Ed also follows another saying, one passed on to him when he was a young man applying for a job. The man asked if he were interviewing for the job. Ed said he was, and the potential employer told him if all he was after was a job, he could look elsewhere.

“There's a difference between having a job, and working,” Ed said. “It's something we do quite well here. You have to like what we do, and we do.”

That enthusiasm and commitment shows up in the product. Lima provides things other communities don't or can't, such as leaf pickup, and also delivers quality, such as its water, Ed said.

“It's something you can take for granted,” Ed said. “We've traveled quite extensively, including some large towns; they don't have the quality of water Lima does.”