SCHULTZ SURVEYING & ENGINEERING : Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri

Stanley Schultz, P.E., R.L.S. - Principal

Rodney Jetton - Marketing Director

Schultz and Summers was extremely pleased to have Rodney Jetton, a former Speaker of the Missouri House, join the company in early 2010. Not only does he bring a wealth of friendships, marketing experience, sales know how, and public relations expertise to SSE, but he also has a strong business and management background.

Long before he became Speaker, Jetton developed the understanding and ability to organize and manage people. He learned discipline, hard work and key organizational skills through his time as a young officer in the US Marine Corps. Additionally, Jetton served as a company commander in the Marines, which taught him how to manage both personnel and resources in challenging circumstances.

After serving in the Marine Corps, Jetton returned to Missouri where he started a successful real estate company and was elected to the Bollinger County Commission. At the age of 28, he had become the youngest commissioner in the state at that time. Running a small business and serving as a local elected official has helped Rodney understand and serve our customers better. SSE helps counties, small cities and small business all across rural Missouri. Rodney’s experience has made him the perfect fit to help Schultz and Summers understand and meet their clients’ needs.

His election as a state representative and meteoric rise to become the youngest Speaker in state history has been well documented in the statewide media. He is the last speaker to serve more than two years since Speaker Gaw and the only one to serve more than one term since term limits were imposed. His knowledge of the state and the issues that citizens are concerned with has been invaluable to SSE. Also, his friendships, connections and acquaintances with government workers, business leaders and elected officials have opened doors and allowed SSE to grow into new and exciting markets.

One of the top issues Rodney focused on while in the legislature was investing in our state’s infrastructure. He supported initiatives to increase funding for building Missouri’s road, bridge, sewer, and water improvements. He was also a key leader in the effort to streamline the process for bringing electric power, natural gas, and internet broadband services to all Missouri citizens.

As the SSE marketing director, he has helped our company better communicate the quality of our services, to both current customers and potential prospects. This marketing program has been appreciated by our customers because it clearly communicates the many services we offer, as well as the quality that SSE consistently provides. It has allowed us to show our customers the various types of civil engineering services that SSE can provide, which includes road, water, and wastewater design, as well as surveying, materials testing, commercial site development, subdivision layout and a whole host of other services.

Rod’s experience has helped SSE successfully meet and close business with some of the largest contracting companies in the world, which include Tetra Tech, Archer Western Contractors, and Odebrecht Construction, to name just a few. Additionally, he has been just as effective in dealing with local elected officials and citizens about their sewer or water needs in rural Missouri. His ability to quickly identify the needs of the customer and honestly assess how SSE can meet those needs has been appreciated by all our customers and is resulting in an expanding book of business for our company.

When asked why he chose to join SSE Jetton stated, “Helping improve the quality of life for Americans starts with building the infrastructure necessary to supply them with water, sewer, power and communications.” He continued, “SSE has a proven track record for doing quality work and helping those who often have no one else to help them. That’s the kind of company I wanted to work with, and really, my new position just continues the public service I started when I joined the Marines.”

Rodney has three children, Callie, (married to Austin Bollinger) Emily, (Attends SBU in Bolivar, MO) and Will, (Graduates HS in May). He lives in Branson Missouri with his wife Jami and her two boys Kodey, (Graduates HS in May) and Kasey, (sophomore in HS). Rod is an avid football fan. In his spare time he enjoys watching the Green Bay Packers and helping Jami with the cleaning business she owns called Kajun Kleaning. He loves to read and run and hopes to complete several marathons in 2011.

Faith in God and trust in Jesus Christ are very important to Rodney. He has experienced the wonderful highs as well as some disheartening lows in life and credits the grace of God for helping him make it through both. He and Jami support and regularly attend the Sanctuary of Hope Church in Branson. Besides their church, they support several charities including, St. Jude’s, Small Cloud Ministries, Teen Challenge, Prison Fellowship, and various church mission programs.

Jared Wheaton, Project Engineer

Bio coming soon...

Daniel Roeger, E.I.T. - Project Engineer

Danny was brought on just after graduating in the winter class of 2010 from the University of Missouri – Columbia with a Bachelors of Science degree in Civil Engineering.  He immediately passed his Engineer in Training exam and his goal is to work on engineering projects at SSE until he is eligible to obtain his Professional Engineering License in 2014.

Rarely do young professionals have the opportunity to return to their hometowns for work.  Danny reports that he is excited to begin his professional career in his hometown at Lake of the Ozarks.  Growing up in the lake region will give him a better understanding of the engineering issues affecting that area and his familiarity with the communities he will be serving will better help him meet their needs.  Taking an interest in the lake area and working to improve the economy and lives of its citizens comes naturally to Danny.  His family is successful small business owners and they have a long history of being actively involved in the lake’s social and economic development. 

Prior to employment with SSE, he gained experience through two internships over the summer months with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) construction.  His responsibilities included inspection work along the Osage Beach Expressway and one-way corridors through the heart of Osage Beach.  Danny was a construction inspector and responsible for ensuring the thousands of cubic yards of concrete that were pored as well as the miles of asphalt laid on the Hwy. 5 and 54 expressways met MoDOT plans and specifications.

Here at SSE we put all the new young engineers through a detailed orientation program that not only teaches them about all the different services SSE offers but also gives them hands on training in the basics of civil engineering.  We find it is a great way to provide practical application to what they learned in the classroom in engineering school.  Danny has been one of our fastest learners and quickly marched through the orientation program.  He was sent down to New Orleans, where he learned the basics in materials testing.  He easily passed his HAZMAT, Troxler Nuclear Density Gauge, and American Concrete Institution (ACI) certifications and was qualified to test both soil density and concrete in the field. 

He then was brought back to the lake where he was sent to the field to learn the basics in surveying.  He learned how to use the newest surveying technology by learning how to do static and RTK observations using modern GPS equipment.   This experience has been important as he helps on some of the preliminary engineering work for the Rocky Mount and Gravois Mills Sewer Districts.  Currently Danny has been supervising the FEMA flood surveying program at the Lake.  With his help they completed 650 elevation certificates that have saved thousands of dollars in flood insurance premiums for lake property owners.

Danny enjoys sports and played baseball in college and now is the star on his local softball team.  Once he played golf with Kansas City Chiefs Hall of Famer Walter White and he feels strongly about protecting the water quality at the Lake.  He is a volunteer for Ameren’s Shoreline Cleanup project and he attends Calvary Chapel Church.    

Jim Burtin, P.E. - Business Development

Jim was born in a log cabin on the Niangua River, which makes him an authentic Ozarkian. He was reared in Lebanon, Missouri and received a BSME from Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy (Missouri University of Science & Technology.)

While attending college, Jim quickly earned the respect of his fellow students when he was elected President of his fraternity for two consecutive years. He became one of the most sought after Mechanical Engineers in his graduating class of 1962 and settled on a job with Collins Radio Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This high-tech company supplied electronic equipment to world airlines, military clients and the American space program. Jim worked on radios for Voice of America and associated with other engineers working on the newest electronic innovations such as computers, the transmission of voices from space, weapons guidance systems and global positioning.

But it was hard to get the Ozarks out of his blood so he returned to Lebanon to become Chief Engineer for Detroit Tool and Engineering, the company his father had worked for as toolmaker and designer. He eventually became a Vice President and managed True-Gunall Division and later Garden Maid Tiller Division.

In 1982, Jim was offered the position of General Manager North America for an English lawnmower division of the Swedish conglomerate AB Electrolux. That meant a move to Seattle, WA. After a year of extensive travel setting up the new operation and before his family could join him, the office was moved to Ohio with talk that he would probably be there for a year or two before moving to Kentucky.

Quality of life for himself and his family has always been important to Jim so the decision was made to leave Flymo and purchase a small manufacturer of photographic equipment in Conway, Missouri. After five successful years the doors closed due to various events. Jim began consulting work for several companies he had been associated with over the years, but constantly living out of a suitcase had never been his choice of lifestyles.

Through a contact from his years at Collins Radio, he was sought to establish a Test Equipment Group in the Commercial Division of the company, which had now become part of the global firm of Rockwell International. It was Jim’s ability to listen to customers, encourage cooperation and to reach consensus, combined with his technical training that secured the position. By then his three children had all started college, so the return to Cedar Rapids was accepted. Despite the adverse effect of 9-11 on the airline industry and a total reorganization of the company that separated Rockwell Collins from Rockwell International, Jim was retained for 14 years until his retirement in 2005.

Jim and his wife of 40+ years Margi returned again to Jim’s native soil when they retired to the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks. Jim was soon elected to the Camelot Estates Board and became acquainted with Stan Schultz through the Camelot Sewer project. Stan recognized Jim’s skills in presenting a calm and cooperative approach to the many inherited problems associated with the project and convinced him to work at least part-time for SSE.

Since joining SSE in 2006 in the capacity of Business Development, Jim has helped nurture new projects for the firm:

He also serves as SSE liaison with the following:

• Camelot Sewer District
• Gravois Arm Sewer District
• Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Association (LOWA)

Jim’s engineering degree and wide business experience are valuable to SSE but it is his other experiences that bring the most value to the client - six years on City Council in Lebanon, supervision of construction of his fraternity house in college, a 30,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Wabash Indiana, his church in Lebanon and three of his own homes. This has given him the ability to envision the problems faced by the recipient of any project – the client. His patience and understanding can smooth over many situations before they become insurmountable problems.