Bill Lawyer’s family knew what to expect whenever they were driving along a Keizer street.
The veteran city public works employee would point out his latest work.
“I changed that water meter last week,” he would say.
Few people know the city the way Lawyer does.
The city’s public works director is retiring in February, giving up oversight of 106 miles of street, 131 miles of water pipe and a storm water system with 79 miles of pipe – and 1,239 manholes.
Lawyer has worked for the city since 1989, starting as a waterworks operator and eventually earning promotion to public works director in 2012.
His wife, Kriss Lawyer, said her husband took pride in his work from day one, leading to infrastructure observations on those family drives.
“The kids and I used to tease him,” she said. “We still kind of do.”
Lawyer planned to work another year or so, retiring when he reached 65 in 2027.
Cancer changed all that.
In early 2025, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and faced aggressive treatment.
“I decided if I didn’t beat it, I would work no more,” he said.
Kriss Lawyer said, “Statistically, the odds were against him.”
He completed treatment in June and then waited for a follow-up check in September. That’s when the notion of retiring came up.
“When you have that diagnosis, it’s a whole different mindset,” she said.
That September test showed Lawyer cancer free.
The couple traveled to Arizona that month to visit a son and his family.
The two went for a walk.
“I think I’m ready to retire,” Lawyer told his wife.
“He was done,” she said. “He’s tired.”
Later, back at his office at the Keizer Civic Center, Lawyer crafted his resignation letter.
“What is there to say?” Lawyer said.
His notice to City Manager Adam Brown was two sentences.
The community will honor Lawyer this weekend. The Keizer Chamber of Commerce has named him grand marshal for Saturday’s Keizer Holiday Lights Parade.
Lawyer was born in Seattle and moved with his parents to Keizer when he was 10. He played in Keizer Little League, attending McNary High School before shifting to McKay for his senior year.
He said he and his wife were “high school sweethearts.”
They met at Spongs Landing Park while both were, well, absent from school.
Lawyer can recall their first date – Nov. 9, 1978. They married in 1982.
After school, Lawyer worked a variety of jobs and then started maintenance work at what is now Willamette Lutheran Retirement Community in north Keizer. Then he spotted a job announcement at the city of Keizer, which had incorporated just seven years earlier.
“I knew a city job meant a career,” he said. “What I found was a profession.”
At the time, the city had a water department of just six people. As the community grew, so did city government. In 1998, Lawyer was promoted to public works superintendent, the last step before being put in charge of a city department with 30 employees and a budget of $26 million.
Lawyer reflected on his 36 years with the city in an interview in his office. One counter is lined with manila folders standing in order. Artwork from kids and grandkids decorate one portion of the office.
Two projects among hundreds stand out for him.
One was the construction in 2008 of the Chemawa Station Water Tower, which stands 100 feet tall and holds a half million gallons of water.
Such towers aren’t common in Oregon, and the contractor in charge came from the Midwest, Lawyer recalled. There were construction problems, labor strife and a learn-as-you-go approach.
Another notable project was the Big Toy at Keizer Rapids Park. The community had rallied behind the child play structure and then-City Manager Chris Eppley put Lawyer in charge.
“Don’t let it fail,” he told Lawyer.
“That was one of the funnest things I’ve ever done,” he said.
Volunteer crews led by volunteer captains tackled the project, piecing together the structure from a kit.
“I had no idea what half this stuff was,” he said. “You couldn’t go to Home Depot to get parts.”
The structure opened in 2015.
He said residents take for granted the network of streets and pipes lacing the city.
Take drinking water.
The city pumps water from 15 wells to provide a reliable supply.
“We really don’t do anything to it but take it out of the ground. Then, we send it to your house,” he said. “We touch every person’s life every day. We impact public health more every day than most professions.”
Kriss Lawyer has her own view of those water wells. They can be annoying because of a computerized monitoring system.
“If one of the wells was failing, the computer would call our home in a robotic voice at three o’clock in the morning. Bill never woke,” she said.
She would answer the phone and rouse her husband.
One of the public works director’s responsibilities is caring for city parks. The city now has 19, covering 239 acres.
Lawyer said a monthly fee on property owners to support parks transformed the city’s ability to care for and improve the parks.
Before the fee, he said, “We could barely afford to mow the grass.”
He said good parks make people happy and the fee has allowed the city to add or update features in one park after another.
“I didn’t think we’d ever – ever – be able to do this stuff,” he said.
He’s overseeing progress on another project he considers his capstone – wetlands work along Claggett Creek that includes a walking trail. He hoped to see it done before he checked out but complexities are delaying the completion until after Lawyer is retired.
Lawyer isn’t sure what he’ll do in retirement except travel and camp.
He and his wife plan to try a month in the Southwest – during baseball spring training.
“I really would like to see him get a hobby that he falls in love with,” Kriss Lawyer said. “I would like him to fall in love with golf again or with fishing or I don’t care. He’s so passionate about his job.”
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