Imagine being a freshly-minted college graduate and deciding the first thing you will do – before even receiving the diploma you worked so hard for – is jump on a plane, fly more than 7,000 miles, move in with complete strangers and begin your career. Every family member and friend you ever knew is back home… you are the only American at your new job… and it’s the days of no cell phone, no ZOOM, no internet and way, way too expensive long-distance phone charges.

That’s where recently retired Wasatch Front Waste & Recycling District General Manager Pam Roberts found herself just over 40 years ago.

Four decades ago, Pam Roberts was a college and professional basketball star, before launching into her lengthy administrative career. (Courtesy Pam Roberts)

“I flew out in May 1985, just before the Utah State University graduation ceremony, to join a women’s professional basketball team on the north island of New Zealand,” the 5-foot-11 Roberts said. “I moved in with a host family. It was going into their winter, and none of the gyms had any heat. Oh, and all of my opponents really wanted to prove they were tougher than the Yank. It was a rough league.”

If you really want to get a loud laugh out of Roberts, have this exchange: “Do you remember how much you were paid?”… “Wow, that was a long time ago, maybe $7,000”… “Per game?” …(cue the huge chuckle) “No, no, that was for the entire season.”

Roberts played that single season, based in the Auckland, NZ suburb of Papakura, before returning to her native Utah to “start my real career.” Taylorsville Mayor Kristie Overson is among the many elected officials throughout the WFWRD service area who’s glad she did. 

“Pam has been absolutely amazing,” Overson said. “She has had a very tough job. There have been so many cost increases in her field. She’s always been very transparent whenever a rate increase was necessary. Whenever I have had to call her, she always returns my call the same day. The district has been very lucky to have her. Pam will be missed.”

Roberts officially retired from WFWRD on Sept. 30 – 28 years and two months after beginning her government service career with Salt Lake County.

“When I returned from New Zealand, I first cared for my father who had been diagnosed with cancer,” Roberts said. “Next, I worked in the private sector for several years. First, I worked with children; later, with seniors. I was with a private company that helped open the first Alzheimer care center in Salt Lake.”

A recent office gathering at the WFWRD headquarters included just retired GM Pam Roberts (R) and her replacement, Evan Tyrrell (L). (Courtesy Pam Roberts)

But Roberts says she always wanted the stability of a government job. So, she started that clock ticking on her state retirement in summer 1997.

“I took a pay cut to move to the Salt Lake County Aging Services Division, starting as a case worker,” she continued. “I earned promotions in the division while also completing my Public Administration master’s degree in 2005 at the University of Utah.” 

From the Aging Services Division, Roberts briefly transferred to Salt Lake County’s Criminal Justice Services Division. But by 2007, she found her “forever career home” – in garbage.

The county sanitation department evolved into a service district – which became a special service district – and blah, blah, blah. Roberts was an executive director and a CEO and a general manager – and blah, blah, blah.

Point is, Roberts was the ONLY “top boss” of what is now called Wasatch Front Waste & Recycling District EVER, until stepping down a month ago.

Taylorsville City Councilwoman Anna Barbieri has served on the WFWRD Board of Directors ever since her 2020 election. Each city the district serves has one representative on the board.

Anna Barbieri (R) has served on the WFWRD Board of Directors ever since her 2020 election to the Taylorsville City Council and has been a champion of GM Pam Roberts (L) since day one. (Carl Fauver/City Journals)

“Pam has been just phenomenal,” Barbieri said. “She is a really strong leader. I think she is a teacher at heart. She’s very patient. Pam cares about all of her employees, from the lowest positions to the very top. I believe they are all going to miss her. I know, as a board member, I will.”

The public has also been pleased with the service provided by WFWRD, as evidenced by a 94% satisfaction rating in the most recent survey. The district hauls about 150,000 tons of household garbage, green waste and recyclables away from more than 86,000 homes each year. Among the areas WFWRD serves are: Brighton, Cottonwood Heights, Emigration Canyon, Herriman, Holladay, Kearns, Magna, Millcreek, Taylorsville and White City.

“The number of homes we serve and our number of employees have both remained pretty constant the entire time I’ve been general manager,” Roberts said. “We’ve grown by maybe five to six thousand homes: mostly just new construction in the southwest part of the valley – Herriman area. When I started, we had 72 FTEs (fulltime equivalent employees). Now that’s up to 97 FTEs. A big part of that came because, along the way we shifted our accounting and billing to in-house.” 

WFWRD operates 56 side-load waste trucks, three front-load trucks (for hoisting dumpsters) and two rear-load trucks (and yes, for we dinosaurs, these are the trucks that used to have two guys standing on the bumper, hanging on for dear life, jumping off at every house to dump cans…doing, without a doubt, the “funnest job in the world”).

Now that they are both retired, Pam Roberts (L) and wife Renee plan to ride their beloved motorcycles even more than they have been for years. (Courtesy Pam Roberts)

 Following a nationwide search, the new WFWRD General Manager, Evan Tyrrell was hired in from Grand Junction, Colorado at the end of August. Just over three years ago, Evans had served as a Grand County solid waste service district director in Moab.

Meantime, Pam and her wife plan to ride off into the retirement sunset together.

“Renee retired from the IRS last December after working for the agency 38 years,” Roberts said. “I met her on a motorcycle ride ten years ago and we got married in our backyard seven years ago. She gave me two step kids who I love dearly. I also have two sisters: one who lives in Taylorsville and another who I will soon help move back to Utah from Ohio. When we’re not busy with family, Renee and I plan to ride. We recently returned from a motorcycle trip to Glacier National Park. I’d like to ride our bikes all the way from here to New England.” 

Sounds like it’s a good thing there’s a little water between here and Papakura, New Zealand. Otherwise, who knows how exhausting that retirement motorcycle trip might be. At least calling family back home is a little cheaper than it was, back when Roberts had no idea she’d enjoy a long and successful career in in garbage.