Over the past seven years, Unalaska has been trying to modernize its outdated public utilities.

Nancy Peterson had the job of overseeing all that development. She left her post as the director of public works last week, heading off to retirement in Washington State.

Since Peterson started work in Unalaska in February of 2007, she’s had a pretty consistently full plate.

"Over the seven years that I’ve been there, every year, I keep thinking, 'Well, next year, there’ll be fewer [projects],' and there never seems to be," she says, laughing.

When Peterson got to Unalaska, some major capital projects were already in motion. The Environmental Protection Agency had sued the city for improper wastewater discharge, and told them they had to build a new treatment plant.

Unalaska was also mandated to upgrade its water treatment plant and landfill. All of those projects come with hard deadlines, or the city faces fines.

Spending years on those projects left Peterson with less time to set her own agenda. But she says she didn’t mind.

"They’re not wishy-washy, ‘Oh, gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if we could...’ -- they are truly needed projects, and the community has been very good about tackling those and finding ways to make them happen for the good of the community," she says.

Peterson said the city tried to do that by designing a wastewater treatment plant that would work even if Unalaska’s population grew dramatically.

"We’re building it to meet our needs right now, and we did a lot of work on what would be a future projected flow that we would need to meet," she says. "So we’re building a facility that has the capacity for growth in this community for the next 20 to 30 years."

But it wasn't always easy. The construction site for the wastewater treatment plant was plagued by rockslides last year. It took $1.45 million in change orders to re-stabilize the rock face. City council approved the funds only after a lot of debate about what went wrong.

"Looking at it now, there’s several things we probably could have done differently that maybe would have headed off that situation," Peterson says. "But I really don’t have anything concrete to say with that other than there’s lessons learned with every project and we try to learn from them and go forward."

Peterson says she’s run into lots of logistical issues here over the years. Working on an island in rural Alaska isn’t always possible for contractors or designers. That leads to fewer bids for construction projects.

City councilor Dennis Robinson has been critical in the past of how many times he’s seen only one contractor bid on a project, and get the job.

Peterson says it’s not a problem to work with the same contractors on multiple jobs. Those companies come in already knowing what challenges they’ll face working in Unalaska.

"If you can’t run down the road and get something, a piece of equipment, or find a different resource -- when you’re out here, you have to know what you’re doing," she says. "The experience that you gain from doing a project out here as a contractor benefits the city on the next go-around beyond belief."

One of the city’s repeat contractors is Knik Construction, which paved Ballyhoo Road last summer. That was a long-time priority for Peterson.

"I just think it’s kind of changed the face of Unalaska, and I think it was really important to get that project done, so I’m really excited that that happened this summer," she says.

Knik will be back this summer to do more paving around town. Construction will start back up at the wastewater treatment plant in March.

It will be up to Peterson’s replacement to oversee that work. The city hasn’t hired that person yet, but they’re flying out a candidate in February.

For now, public utilities director Dan Winters and city engineer Robert Lund are overseeing things.

Peterson knows it’s a busy period for the city. But it’s not going to slow down anytime soon. She says it’s as good a time as any to retire from her 38-year public service career in in the Pacific Northwest.

"It’s had its moments, but 98 percent has been just very, very rewarding," she says. "You get a chance to work with people, and it’s just been fabulous."

Peterson’s retiring to Eastern Washington with her husband, Jeff Hawley, the now-former director of the department of parks, culture and recreation. She says they’re looking forward to spending more time with family and friends from the Lower 48 -- plus some warmer weather.