Jake Short started at the Jacksonville Water Works as a temporary worker in the billing office. Less than five years later, he was in charge of the whole department.
Short, 37, is the general manager of the water department, having moved through the ranks and gained the top spot in April 2012.
“I kind of fell into work here by accident,” Short said. “I started as a temp in the billing office in November 2007.”
Short is a 2000 graduate of Jacksonville High School. He graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway in 2005. After graduation, he worked in retail.
“I majored in political science. … I thought I was going to law school,” he said. “The job I was working in college, I continued that and just took more hours working after graduating. I ended up leaving that job.”
Short said it was getting close to Christmas 2007 when he came across the temporary job in Jacksonville.
“It was a job taking a look at customer accounts, looking at high water bills, that type of thing,” he said. “I got this very much by accident. I became a full-time staff member in January 2008. From there on, if any opportunity arose, I made myself ready for it. I have made my way through the ranks since that time.”
Short said he’s proud of being able to work in his hometown of Jacksonville but also thinks doing so is unique.
“This is home,” he said. “To be able to come back here and have a career — do something that makes an impact — is important. We’re talking about public safety. We’re taking about public health. What we do is important.
“To come back here and have an impact on this community is something that is pretty huge. I think it’s rare. People go where the jobs are. I think it’s rare to have roots here and stay here and be very, very happy.”
Short said one thing that has kept him in Jacksonville is the people he works with.
“It’s a diverse group,” he said. “There are some more tenured folks who have made this a career and been here 20-plus years. There are some younger ones. There is a revolving door where people come and go. They are a group of people who care about what we’re doing.”
During his early career at the water department, Short was a customer-service representative in the billing office. He was an office clerk, then moved to finance director before becoming general manager.
One of the biggest projects Short has taken on is working with the Little Rock Air Force Base. After years of negotiations, Short and his department run the water infrastructure for the base. For years, Jacksonville had sold water to the base.
“We own, operate, maintain and repair their water system, just like it’s our own,” Short said. “The only difference is there is a gate, a line of demarcation. The perimeters of the base separate it from our own system.”
Short said that in 2011, the base asked for solicitations of bids to privatize its water department.
“Nobody bid on it,” he said. “We researched it at the time. I wasn’t in a leadership spot at the time. From what I understand, the risk was just too much to go out and hire consultants because it’s a huge endeavor.”
Short said officials from the base later asked the city of Jacksonville to become the owner and operator of the base’s water system.
“They came to us and us only,” Short said. “That changes the game a little bit. The relationship has always been strong between the city and the base. I think we recognized that we wanted to continue that relationship and see what we could do to help.”
Short said it was a five-year process, which concluded in 2018 with Jacksonville taking over the Air Force base’s water system. The contract runs for 50 years.
“Two of the main components of the contract are operation and maintenance,” Short said. “Just on a daily basis, we’re making sure the water is running, making sure that they are getting good-quality water and are adhering to any state and federal laws when it comes to water quality.”
Short said that during the contract, the city will have to replace all of the water infrastructure on the base.
“We’ve got to make plans,” he said. “It’s a very large endeavor, but it’s important. It takes time to put all that together.”
One of Short’s biggest concerns about taking over the water system at the base was not passing on higher rates to the regular Jacksonville water customers.
“If we took on that big of an endeavor, it needs to be self-sustaining,” he said. “We wanted to operate it as its own entity, still under the Jacksonville Water umbrella, but separate, where there is no intertwining. Negotiations were difficult.”
But Short said it’s not a problem for the regular Jacksonville customers.
“From the contract, it’s more than taken care of itself,” he said.
Short said that Jacksonville having the water contract lets the Air Force take care of its business.
“Privatization [of the water system] allows the Air Force base to focus on its mission,” he said. “They aren’t having to worry about water or infrastructure. We can do the worrying on that. They can focus on their mission, which is good. From our standpoint, there’s always been a good strong relationship between the base and the city. If we can help in any way with that, it’s good. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
While Short downplays it some, his water department may have played a key role in the central-Arkansas area being awarded the Abilene Trophy for the third time.
The award, presented by the Abilene (Texas) Chamber of Commerce, is presented to the community that is most supportive of its local Air Force base.
The Little Rock area received the 2018 award Tuesday and was previously given the award in 2009 and 2011.
“That trophy is for the community,” Short said. “It’s for central Arkansas. It’s a huge deal. We’re in constant contact with people on the base and people in Washington, D.C., monthly about the various goings on. Some of it is just routine — what’s going on at the Little Rock Air Force Base. What is Jacksonville water doing?
“To be able to put [the Abilene Trophy] out there, it’s coming not from us … another piece of recognition. If we play any kind of small role, it can be touted across the area.”
Short said privatization of the water system at the base is not a new thing.
“We had the goal in mind, when we started this, that we wanted to be the gold standard of how privatization is supposed to work.”
In addition to running the water department, Short is president of the Arkansas Water & Wastewater Managers Association. He became an officer in 2014, serving three years as secretary-treasurer. He was second vice president, then first vice president before becoming president this year.
“It’s proven to be a worthwhile experience,” Short said. “It’s a nonprofit organization that was put in place for the continued education and development of water and wastewater professionals, particularly management.”
The association meets twice a year.
“We have classes and work on personal development,” Short said. “Some of it may be industry-related issues. Some of it is leadership and communication training. It’s a mechanism that we use as utility managers to better ourselves. It’s also a place for us to network with other professionals and trade war stories. We all experience similar things. It’s proven to be a really cool thing.”
Short said members of the managers association have been able to get involved with the Arkansas Legislature over the past few years.
“We’ve become increasingly more involved with having a voice when the Legislature is in session — just being able to speak about water- and wastewater-related issues, pieces of legislation we’re going through where we think we can have an impact and have some insight,” Short said. “We try to get involved and speak and educate folks. It’s been a neat deal.”
Short said being able to learn from his peers has been a good experience for him.
“We build some relationships with some folks,” he said. “It’s statewide. You are interacting with people you may not always have contact with.”
Jim Peacock, chairman of the Jacksonville Water Commission, said Short is the perfect person for leading the Jacksonville Water Works.
“I’d say that we could not have found someone who could have done a better job than he has,” said Peacock, who has been on the Water Commission for 13 years. “He’s an outstanding young man. He’s very smart, and he’s getting the job done at a pace that’s a lot faster than our previous manager.”
Peacock said Short being from Jacksonville is also a plus.
“It certainly is,” Peacock said. “His dad is a doctor in town. They are Jacksonville folks through and through.”
Short said the city has plenty of water. Jacksonville purchases water from Central Arkansas Water. The city is a member of the Lonoke White Public Water Authority and gets water from Greers Ferry Lake. The city also has a well system for more water.
“We’re here to sell water. … We’ve got plenty of it,” Short said. “It’s an interesting time for Jacksonville and a good one with the new high school going in. We’ve got new leadership at City Hall. We’re here to help in any way that we can.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.