COLUMBUS — Donald Warschak, the city manager of Columbus, has announced his departure after 16 years of dedicated service. He came on board in December 2009 to help the city move into the future after his tenure with John D. Mercer Engineers. Warschak is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas and the first city manager to hold such a degree. He received his degree in civil engineering from Texas A&M in 1991.
Warschak worked at John D. Mercer in municipal engineering and consulted on a number of projects in the city of Columbus before his title as city manager. He has saved the city untold thousands of dollars by designing its projects and overseeing their integration as city manager.
His latest engineering project was designing the 2024-25 Water Systems Improvement Project, which consisted of approximately a mile of water line. As city manager, he also introduced new technology to the city, including CAD mapping, now transitioning to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), which takes it to a whole new level and is far from handwritten notes.
Warschak took his work as city manager to heart. He felt it was his duty to the residents of Columbus. What matters most to him, War- schak says, "Helping people find problems and solve them. I try to help remedy their problems.”
His problem-solving has helped address dilapidated housing structures, improve the substandard building ordinance, strengthen code enforcement, and tackle other issues that have plagued the city, solving people's problems.
Warschak has plans for the future. He is, after all, an engineer at heart. He plans to open his own consulting firm. Asked why now, he says, “ I am 59. I was an engineer before this. I am opening my own engineering firm right here in Columbus and providing consulting services for municipal projects. It’s my calling in life.”
He is very excited about his move back into engineering, he says he will miss the city employees, the mayor, and the city council. He holds both in high regard and they feel the same about him.
