Paula Ely was surprised a couple of decades ago when her clean-water plant superintendent took her aside and said, “I want you to become an operator.”
Surprised because she was perfectly happy working in the lab at the Pittsfield (Massachusetts) Wastewater Treatment Plant. “I don’t want you to stay in the lab,” Tom Landry, her boss, told her. “One day you’re going to run this plant.”
Despite some misgivings, Ely took the courses needed to pass her Grade 4 license exam. She has no regrets. Today she doubles as the assistant operator and lab technician for the Town of Great Barrington
