Raymond Bordner

Ray is a Florida native, born in St. Petersburg on July 31, 1946. He graduated from Northeast High School in1964 at which time he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Ray served four years during the Viet Nam War and returned to St. Petersburg on June 12, 1968.

After returning from Viet Nam, Ray took a job with the City of St. Petersburg, Water Department as a Labor I. Six months later he successfully past the Water Sanitarian I exam and the die was cast. He would be s water distribution systems operator. Ray stayed with St. Petersburg moving up through the ranks to Sanitarian II and then Water Foreman. In December 1988 Ray was promoted to Water Distribution Supervisor. The position he finished his career at St. Petersburg  holding. After 37 years of service Ray finally retired from the City of St. Petersburg  on May 30, 2005.

 

Actively involved in the Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association at both Region and State levels Ray became a Certified Backflow Assembly Tester and Repair Instructor from the FWPCOA in 1994 a certification he has instructed many other students. He also holds a Water Distribution Level I License issued by Florida Department of Environmental Protection. Ray continues to work with the Pinellas County School Board as an instructor for the Pinellas Technical Collage, Public Works Academy Program.

 

Ray held several offices in Region IV before being elected as Director of Region IV in 1999. After getting involved at the State level he served as the State Awards Committee Chairperson in 2000 and has been a spectacular chair for the Systems Operators Committee, a position he has held since August 2001. Ray also serves on the State’s Education, Reclaimed Water, and Backflow Committees.

 

Ray was elected President of the association for 2011and 2012, and was elected as a Honorary Life Member in 2003. In August 2016 The Senior Systems Operator Award was renamed the Raymond Bordner Award (Senior Systems Operator) in honor of this man who has spent decades promoting the System Operator position in Florida and working to train members in our field.

 

Ray is married has a son and daughter, two grandchildren and a thousand colleagues in the industry happy to call him freind,