What’s Rusty up to?
Rusty always has lots of “irons in the fire,” both figuratively and literally! His ability to do metal and mechanical work is outstanding and his projects range from small, to really BIG, and everything in between.

In addition to general repairs and maintenance on the RCWSA vehicles, Rusty fabricates specialized equipment for us. Some examples of his smaller projects include our new pipe reel trailer, which facilitates both the transport and the installation of long lengths of flexible piping. Rusty designed and built this trailer from scratch! But that’s not all… he’s also built us a new thumb attachment for our excavator, a hydraulic ramp for loading equipment, a mobile pump trailer for better pumping capacity and many more items that help make the RCWSA’s work better, easier and safer.

His most recent BIG project is our crane truck. This truck will allow us to lift and transport heavy items, up to 3200 lbs. The project started with a used dump truck which the RCWSA purchased for a very reasonable cost. The old dump bed was then removed and repurposed. Rusty then custom-built and installed a new heavy-duty bed. The RCWSA also acquired an old, inoperable hydraulic crane at no cost. Rusty was able to repair the crane to working order and additionally rewired it with a remote operations unit. The crane was then installed on the new bed of the truck and is ready to go to work! This new crane truck will allow us to lift and transport large, heavy equipment such as hydrants, pumps and motors, for servicing, maintenance or replacement, saving approximately $3000.00 per each service call which previously had to be outsourced. It also enables faster turnaround times in getting the work completed. All in all, this project is a great big WIN for the RCWSA and Rusty is the one who got it done!

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all the great things Rusty is working on to help provide Rabun County with the best possible water and wastewater system possible both for now and for future generations. If you see Rusty out and about, don’t hesitate to give him a wave. He will always wave back!