Business View Civil & Municipal l November 2022

97 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 9 school districts and other entities to develop programs, so when they finally do make their final retirement, we have people that we can slip into the breach,” Christiansen notes. While this expansion is an exciting prospect for the city, the mayor admits that they are also intent on keeping the major employers that are already located in Dover, including Kraft Heinz, Proctor and Gamble, Hersch Industries, and Edgewell. A highly recognized pilot training program through Delaware State University has recently signed a contract with a major airline, something which Christiansen sees as another opportunity for job growth. Infrastructure upgrades and improvements are ongoing throughout Dover, including a long- term plan to replace undersized cast iron pipes. Hugg recounts, “There are about 100 miles of water main in the city of Dover, and it’s about a million dollars a mile to fix it. So, it’s going to take a little while but we’re doing $5 million worth of projects right now on our water utilities.” A major project to significantly update the drainage in an area of Dover’s downtown is also underway, a necessary undertaking due to the age of the infrastructure and the development in this area of the city. The multi-million- dollar family court building being constructed downtown is a project which Hugg conveys is expected to “bring jobs and reinvestment in a portion of the town that was suffering a little bit.” On the east side of Dover, expanded electric capacity is being built for the Garrison Oak Business Park. “That’s a combination of capacity and redundancy so that we’re better able to deal with any potential energy needs city-wide,” says Hugg. Solar is also being introduced throughout the area, with a 50-megawatt solar program being built to the south of the city. “We’re going to take most of the energy output from that,” he reports. DOVER , DELAWARE AMERICA’S MOST DIVERSE CONTEMPORARY HBCU. • Ranked among the nation’s premier Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) • Degree programs that connect with high-demand career fields • Aviation program with its own fleet of aircraft and 100% placement of pilot graduates • State-of-the-art laboratory facilities and major research centers on campus DelStateUniv delawarestateu desuedu It All MATTERS.