For more than 15 years Mike Spitznagel has been the Village of Mt. Orab Utilities Supervisor, but at the Mt. Orab Village Council meeting held Aug. 16, Spitznagel retired from the position, recommending Eric Stephan as his replacement.
“I’d been talking about retiring for about a year and felt like now was the time,”Spitznagel stated, “I plan on just enjoying my life after working for the Village of Mt. Orab for nearly 30 years, 15 years as utilities supervisor.
“I’ve enjoyed my years with this village, my department has always felt the full support from Mayor Bruce Lunsford and of council. That was always important to me having their support.”
A resident of Mt. Orab since 1972, Spitznagel (a Mt. Orab firefighter and EMT) and his wife Terri, have two sons, Tyler and Corey, both firefighter/EMT’s for Mt. Orab, and both graduates of Western Brown High School.
“I will remain active with the Mt. Orab Fire Department and on down the road will probably find another job,” he said. “I joined the Mt. Orab Fire Department as a cadet in 1979.
“My last day as utilities supervisor will be Aug. 31. I have to say, this is all sort of bittersweet to me. I’m very happy and very ready to retire, but I just have this weird feeling…you know, I’ve gotten up every morning and went to work for 30 years and being on call 24 hours a day.”
Stepping into the position, Eric Stephan says he has been with the utilities department for about 9 years and he is anxious and ready to take on the job.
An Owensville resident, Eric and his wife Sarah have four beautiful daughters, Emma, Ivy, Ava and Angel.
“I knew this was coming and I’ve really been looking forward to it,” Stephan said. “For the last year or so, Mike has been preparing me to take over this job. I spent a majority of my time at the sewer plant, but I’ll be shifting to the water side more now. I’ll always be a hands-on kind of guy.”
Stephan said that the Village of Mt. Orab is growing quickly and he looks forward to growing with it.