Excavation for the new 7.0 mgd Home Farm Water Treatment Plant began in July 2017
This week, we broke ground on construction of the 7.0 mgd Home Farm Water Treatment Plant in Shrewsbury, MA. The new treatment plant uses Mangazur® biological filter media to treat manganese. While Mangazur® technology has been approved in one other municipality in Massachusetts, there are few treatment plants in the northeast using this technology, and of those treatment plants, none have a design capacity above 5.0 mgd. Home Farm will be the largest Mangazur® water treatment plant in the northeast once completed, and will have the second highest design capacity in the country, after a 26.0 mgd treatment plant in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. For complete project details, click here.
Our annual company outing was held at Hopkinton State Park on Saturday, June 24, and the weather could not have been any more perfect! The day started with Paul Howard and Jenna Rzasa cooking different types of burgers for everyone, while employee-owners brought all types of dishes to share. After everyone ate their fill, we headed out into the field to play some lawn games. The hit of the day was Kubb, brought and taught by Steve Landry. Kids (of all ages, even the grown ones!) then enjoyed some frozen treats from the Kona Ice Truck. Around 2:30, Fran the Magician arrived to put on a show for the kids. There were lots of laughs and smiles, and even a couple of cute animals for the kids to pat. The day was filled with fun, food, and festivity, and was a great way to spend some time together outside of work.
Things got quiet when it was time to eat.Steve Landry making a throw during a game of Kubb.Karen Gracey and Justine Carroll enjoyed some time with their daughters.Fran the Magician was a hit with kids of all ages.Juliet Carroll and Emma Gracey smile for the camera.Fran’s magical dove received lots of attention from the kids!Paul Howard and Jenna Rzasa cooked up a slew of burgers for the crowd.The Kona Ice Truck was a huge hit!Cecelia Hoyt was one of our cuter attendees!
We are constantly growing, and are thrilled to welcome several new hires as well as some summer interns. Interested in working with us? Visit our careers page for more info!
Our Connecticut office welcomes Natalia Close and Tatiana Prevalla to the team. Natalia has joined the firm as an Engineer after graduating from University of Connecticut this past May with a B.S. degree in Environmental Engineering. Tatiana is interning this summer and just finished up her sophomore year at University of Connecticut where she is majoring in Civil Engineering.
Stan Welch, P.E., has joined our Vermont office as a Project Engineer. Stan earned his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and has over nine years of engineering experience.
Our corporate office in Marlborough, Massachusetts is excited to welcome five new hires! Brian Biagini graduated in May with a B.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) and has joined the firm as an Engineer. Ethan Peterson is majoring in Finance at UMass and is interning with the T&H finance department this summer. Jenna O’Connell graduated in May with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has joined the firm as an Engineer. Jack Garrett just finished up his junior year at UMass and is working toward a degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He will be interning this summer. And finally, Justin Waters is currently studying Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and has just finished up his junior year. He will also be interning this summer.
April 28 is Arbor Day and National Planting Day in the United States, and two of our ESOP Committees — the Wellness and Green Committees — joined forces to host a planting event for our employee-owners. Studies have shown that plants are proven to enhance the workplace by reducing stress, increasing productivity, reducing sickness and absence, creating a better environment in which to work, improving air quality, reducing noise, and increasing creativity.
Employee-owners from the Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine offices participated in the event, which happened to be a gorgeous, sunny day throughout New England. Everyone enjoyed the activity, had a lot of laughs, and brought their plants back to their workspaces to brighten things up. In the spirit of cooperation and teamwork, several of our employee-owners planted for those who were out of the office and unable to attend. Overall, the event was a fun way to enjoy some sunshine and good company, and to improve our workspace and environment.
Happy Arbor Day!
The CT office had plenty of laughs while planting
Nan Nanadoum from our CT officeMA office employee-owners pose with their masterpiecesThe Marlborough, MA office did their planting outsideThe Massachusetts crew got to workCollin Stuart from our Maine officeMaine’s finished plants!Paul Cote from our Maine office
The 8.4 mgd dissolved air flotation (DAF) Long Pond Water Treatment Plant is completed and in startup. Video is courtesy of Methuen Construction Company, Inc. For detailed information on the project, please click below.
February 15 is Random Acts of Kindness Day, and we celebrated by having a Kindness event! Employee-owners were able to purchase pops for $1 each. They would then write messages expressing gratitude or any other type of positivity on them and give them to fellow EOs. All donations went to DARE Family Services, an organization that provides services to severely abused and neglected children in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The event far exceeded our donation expectations, and we are very proud of our amazing — and very positive — team!
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” —Henry Ford
Friday, January 27 is National Fun at Work Day (not to be confused with International Fun at Work Day, which falls on April 1). Because teamwork is one of our core values and we are a 100% employee-owned company, we take teambuilding and fun…seriously? That seems like a bit of an oxymoron, but put it this way – we like to have a good time together!
Tata & Howard celebrated National Fun at Work Day by planning a summer barbecue in January, complete with summer fare, outdoor (but indoor) games, and casual attire. To start the festivities in our corporate office in Marlborough, Massachusetts, we fired up the gas grills in the parking lot and cooked burgers, including beef, turkey, and veggie. While it was a little chilly and windy outside, there was no rain or snow, and the smell of grilled food was certainly reminiscent of a warm summer day. EOs contributed by bringing in their favorite summer barbecue dishes, including pulled chicken, slow-cooked ribs, pasta salad, chips, and dips. Even the desserts were summer-themed – popsicles and ice cream cake, in addition to cookies and brownies. Once EOs finished up their lunches, they participated in some outdoor games – inside! Steve Landry once again showed his gaming expertise by capturing the title of cornhole champion, while Karen Gracey learned how to play Lawn Yahtzee for the first time. Phil MacClellan, a seasoned dice expert, scored the day’s only Yahtzee.
Lawn Yahtzee and corn hole were the games of choice in our corporate office.Phil MacClellan scored the day’s only Yahtzee!Katie Carreira and Mike Quint played corn hole while Steve Daunais and Matt Barry finished lunch.Mike Kaczowka tried valiantly for a Yahtzee, but didn’t quite hit the mark.Matt Barry helped grill some burgers while Karen Gracey shivered!Lunch was plentiful and delicious.
At our Waterbury, Connecticut office, EOs agreed that the big food hit of the day was Dave Lombardo’s delicious pulled pork. Other offerings included baked beans, chicken wings, potato salad, cole slaw, cornbread, and donuts. Showing innovation even during fun activities, Waterbury EOs decided to create their own office version of cornhole using empty boxes of various sizes and plan paper weights. Nobody is quite sure who won, except that it definitely wasn’t Steve Rupar – he may want to stick to water audits!
Empty boxes at the end of a hallway coupled with plan weights made up Waterbury’s cornhole game!Waterbury EOs enjoyed barbecue prior to game time.Steve Rupar tried his hand at corn hole, and Jack Keefe’s face tells the story of how Steve did!We captured an action shot of our newest EO, Chelsea Henderson.
Maine may be known for its brutal winters, but that didn’t deter our Portland, Maine EOs from braving the elements to have an outdoor barbecue. Dan Bishop manned the grill and cooked hot dogs, sausages, and burgers, and team members joined him outside for some fresh air and camaraderie. Other fare included homemade pickles, dips, and veggie offerings. Paul Cote even wore his favorite Hawaiian shirt to add some extra summer flare.
The Portland, Maine office was all smiles during their summer in January barbecue.Dan Bishop did a fabulous job manning the grill.
During our Fun at Work Day activities, there were a lot of smiles and laughs, and afterwards we all went back to work feeling refreshed – and quite full! EOs overwhelmingly agreed that the day’s activities were very fun, and we all enjoyed spending some quality downtime together. Did your team participate in Fun at Work Day? We’d love to hear how you celebrated!
T&H’s annual holiday celebration was held on Tuesday, December 20, and it was a big success with food, gifts, and some fun competition. We were excited to have several fellow employee-owners from our satellite offices join us for the holiday fun.
T&H employee-owners enjoying a catered Italian luncheon as they celebrate the holidays
Drawing numbers out of a hat, employee-owners crossed their fingers for our gift giveaway. There were several awesome gifts ranging from gift cards to Bose speakers. Congratulations to our grand prize winner, T&H Project Environmental Scientist James DeAngelis who won an Apple watch!
T&H Project Environmental Scientist James DeAngelis showing off his new Apple watch.
Employee-owners also participated in a friendly dessert competition. Project Manager Amanda Cavaliere won best homemade dessert with for her amazing custard trifle. For best store bought dessert category, IT Manager James Field stole the show with a delicious tiramisu. The best presentation category went to Engineer Keighty Tallman, who impressed everyone with her creative gingerbread teddy bears.
Like every year, this year’s holiday celebration was a great time with a lot of laughs. From our family to yours, Happy Holidays!
Ugly Christmas Sweater Day is celebrated on the third Friday of December each year, and Tata & Howard employee-owners (EOs) love to participate! This year, EOs not only wore their ugliest (or in some cases, cutest) holiday sweaters, they also made pretzels and decorated sugar cookies. At Tata & Howard, we work together to bring our clients the most efficient, innovative engineering solutions. Having some downtime together strengthens our collaborative, team atmosphere – and makes our jobs not only rewarding, but fun!
Our corporate office had some fun with their ugly sweatersMike Quint went with T&H’s corporate colors for his gingerbread personEOs enjoyed an afternoon break of cookie decorating and pretzel bakingCollin Stuart from our Portland, Maine office
Tata & Howard is a 100% Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) company, and we firmly believe that teams who play together work better together. Teamwork is also one of our core values. Therefore, we participate in frequent team building events, sponsored by our ESOP Committee.
The night started with some Wii games
On Thursday, December 15, team members participate in a game night that also featured fellow ESOP Harpoon Brewery’s beer. The Marlborough, Massachusetts corporate office enjoyed several rounds of Wii bowling and tennis, the iPhone game Heads Up!, and some assorted board games. The surprise of the night was Vice President Steve Landry soundly winning at Wii bowling! Everyone agreed that he must have played this before…
Steve Landry’s first attempt landed him a strike
The Waterbury, Connecticut office played the western card game, Bang! Engineer Max Gilliam started as Sherriff but had to leave early and transferred duties to Engineer Will Grant. Will took a barrage of bullets early and limped through the rest of the game on life support. The conclusion came when Deputy and CAD Technician Steve Catuccio mistakenly took Will out, handing the game to Outlaws Tom Hoctor, Engineer, and Steve Rupar, Vice President. Resident Observer Jack Keefe participated as a Deputy, and Project Manager Dave Lombardo rounded the game out as a Renegade.
The Waterbury, CT office played the western card game, Bang!
The temps were down in the single digits, but the Portland, ME office stayed nice and warm as they settled in for a few rounds of Wii racing.
The Portland, Maine office enjoyed some Wii racing
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to future ESOP game nights!
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February 15 is Random Acts of Kindness Day, and we celebrated by having a Kindness event! Employee-owners were able to purchase pops for $1 each. They would then write messages expressing gratitude or any other type of positivity on them and give them to fellow EOs. All donations went to DARE Family Services, an organization that provides services to severely abused and neglected children in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The event far exceeded our donation expectations, and we are very proud of our amazing — and very positive — team!
