In another life, Cody Burnett’s career might have been in music.
The Starkville city engineer has been with the department for nearly 11 years and has been its head for almost three.
But the Tupelo native’s first year at Mississippi State University wasn’t spent in engineering courses.
“I actually tell people I wasted the first year of college because I took all the music classes,” he said. “Instead of calculus, physics and chemistry, I was taking jazz ensemble and playing for show choir.”
He primarily plays drums, guitar and keys. To this day, from time to time, you can catch him playing Sunday mornings at Pinelake Church.
But rather than make music a full-time gig, he decided to separate his hobbies from his work and find a career he could love separately and equally.
“To me, I’ve always put a huge focus on having hobbies and things I’m interested in outside of my professional career,” he said. “I love my job. I love what I do. But I need things that are not that, as well.”
His music hobby, as well as his interests in reading and running, allow his mind to flow freely, he said. On the other hand, engineering requires him to be diligent and proactive.
His interest in engineering started in high school, and after graduating from MSU, his first job out of college was as a staff engineer for Starkville.
As a staff engineer, he dug into what made a project work. As his duties changed in the leadership role, so did his perspective on how to approach projects.
“When I was a staff engineer, I was able to really be down in the details and the weeds,” he said. “Like, ‘Does the equation work just perfect? How much exactly does this street cost?’ Now I’m looking at it from the aspect of the really big picture, really quick and on the go. It’s a lot less detail-oriented.”
The engineering department is responsible for traffic studies and the development and implementation of capital improvement projects. It also manages, through the street department, maintenance for numerous infrastructure systems in Starkville including roadways, sidewalks, drainage, rights-of-way and roadway signage.
Burnett gives plenty of credit to those who help him, such as Associate Engineer Chris Williams, staff engineer Stephen Kachelman and Chris Black, who oversees the road department, among others.
“I try to hire very good staff,” he said. “If you look at our department, I would put our staff against any other engineering staff in the state. We have such good, critical roles.”
Burnett answers to several stakeholders — the public, the board of aldermen, Mayor Lynn Spruill and various boards and commissions.
And while he admits it is impossible to make everyone happy all of the time, he said he takes pride in using his professional skills to improve the place he lives. That, he said, is his mission statement.
“I’m able to do work as a citizen more than an engineer a lot of days,” he said. “This is a place that I’m motivated to make better because I live here.”
One example of trying to make things better is dealing with the rising cost of asphalt, which Burnett said has almost doubled since he started working for the city. Asphalt will always be used in road overlays, so his adaptation is to find new ways to keep roads in good shape without breaking the bank.
“In my mind, at some point, there wouldn’t be an option to seek alternative or additional methods. I’d rather look now and start addressing that before we have to,” he said.
One idea is strategically applying less expensive maintenance treatments to roads every five to seven years — seals and thinner overlays based on the road’s age and condition — that would extend the life of one full overlay to as much as 40 years. The city is implementing a survey of all city roads and their condition, with an eye toward using alternative methods between full overlays.
“We’re not at a point where we have to try everything right now,” he said. “We’re at a point where we have the luxury of being able to explore some of the new technologies that we’re learning about.”
At home, he credits his wife, Kathleen, with keeping him grounded. The couple has two children — 2-year-old Jack and 6-month-old Ella. Burnett said fatherhood is one of his favorite aspects of his life.
“They’re probably the biggest joy that I have,” he said of his children. “Never thought I’d be the kind of person to say something like that but they’re great kids and I look forward to getting home with them each day.”
Kevin Edwards is news editor and reports on Starkville and Oktibbeha County government.
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