Staff Spotlight – Sara Tannahill

At the end of this year, Sara Tannahill will pass her 10-year mark at Murraysmith + Quincy. That means a decade of indispensable work with our team on numerous water and wastewater design projects across the Northwest. Congrats, Sara! Equipped to tackle a range of challenges, she has experience with gravity sewer lines, water transmission mains, utility bridge crossings, trenchless installations, reservoir site designs, and permit applications for various permitting requirements. To get to know her better, we asked Sara a few questions about her career in engineering.

Sara is always a pleasure to work with on projects. Her positive attitude, sense of ownership, and ability to see the big picture helps drive a project towards success while fostering a fun work environment. Sara makes every project she is involved with better.”

– Nathan Rostad, PE, PMP, Senior Engineer

Aside from graduating and landing a job when the economy was not doing so great, I would say my involvement in the City of Everett’s Lift Station No. 24 project was my first big success. This was one of my first projects, and I feel it gave me a lot of great experience from not only with the technical aspects, but I gained experience with Snohomish County permitting, coordination with subconsultants, as well as taking a project though design, providing construction support, and finally record drawings. I was able to learn a lot and given the opportunity to take on larger tasks and coordinate with others outside of the firm.

For the City of Monroe’s Department of Corrections (DOC) Second Reservoir, we will be providing full construction management services. The reservoir is located on the DOC Monroe Municipal Complex’s property and will be located next to an existing 0.75 MG steel reservoir. The project will include the construction of a 0.85 MG welded steel reservoir, associated yard piping, site storm improvements including two stormwater level spreaders, site access improvements, and improvements to the existing reservoir, including handrailing and a catwalk between the two reservoirs.

I’m excited to take what I’ve learned from my recent construction support role on the City of Renton’s Kennydale Reservoir project and apply it to this project, as well as step into a larger role with full construction management. Not only is this exciting experience for me in my growth as an engineer but we have a great opportunity to serve the City of Monroe well.

Professionally, I’d like to continue to grow in project management and earn my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. Personally, I would like to learn another language and have the means to travel for a year or more.

Honestly, this sounds like my nightmare, haha. I have no desire to have any time in the limelight. I would have to go camping or use it as an excuse to take time off work and travel until my 15 minutes of fame was over.