Profiles

Clean Water and Clear Purpose: Michelle Miranda and 30 Years of Public Service

Walking along the road between the aeration lagoons and secondary clarifiers of the Eugene-Springfield Water Pollution Control Facility, large vacuum trucks rumble by. The drivers wave, and Michelle Miranda, Eugene’s wastewater division director, waves back with a smile. Inside the offices and research lab, she rattles off the names of everyone she passes, pausing to ask about their day.

It’s safe to say that few people get as excited about wastewater as Miranda.

Wastewater treatment facilities employ a multi-stage process to remove solids, clean and sanitize water, and then return it to the environment. Miranda has worked at the Eugene facility for over 30 years. She began her career in the lab in 1995, monitoring and testing water quality throughout the treatment process to ensure safety and efficiency. She held that position for 12 years.

“This has always been near and dear to my heart, kind of my first love. I’ve always loved the lab work,” Miranda said.

Fresh out of Willamette University’s chemistry program, Miranda didn’t have a clear plan. Growing up with a police officer father and a public school teacher mother in Yakima, Washington, she inherited a passion for community service.

“I thought civil service and service to the community is the highest calling, and I still feel that way. I still feel like it’s a privilege to serve the community,” Miranda said.

Miranda never saw herself as a natural leader. She was a scientist focused on data to the point of “analysis paralysis,” not team management. Constantly striving to improve herself, she returned to school and earned a master’s degree in public policy sustainability from the University of Oregon. 

Over her career, she progressed from lab technician to lab supervisor, then operations manager in 2019, and director in 2022.

Dave Breitenstein, her predecessor and now retired, also began at the bottom and worked his way up over a 35-year career.

“I’ve been retired four years and she hasn’t had to reach out one time to ask for help. She hasn’t had to lean on me for any support. Shows she was ready to take the reins,” Breitenstein said. 

Miranda even spends her free time around water. An avid fisherwoman, she spends weekends on the Southern Oregon coast fishing and crabbing and regularly travels to Alaska to fish and visit her son.

Her passion for public service has carried through to her three children, though she admits they didn’t always understand her work. Her eldest son, 30, lives in Alaska stabilizing buildings as a permafrost engineer; her middle son, 29, served in the military and now drives trucks locally; and her 20-year-old daughter is studying at Lane Community College to become an EMT. In high school, her eldest called the treatment plant “the toilet bowl for Eugene and Springfield,” unaware it was mostly dedicated to cleaning water. After that, Miranda made sure her kids understood her job and now sees public education as a key part of her role

“I always looked up to her because she’s trying to go places and do incredible things,” said Austen Whitney, Miranda’s eldest son. “I remember back in the early 2000s, she got an award from the mayor for reducing the amount of trash going into the landfill from the wastewater treatment plant in Eugene. And I thought that was a really cool thing she did.”

Miranda has faced her share of sexism in the workplace, but has noticed a change in recent years. She spent decades fighting for recognition and a place at the table. She’s among the 5.6% of women, according to Data USA, who make up the wastewater industry. However, within the City of Eugene, only one of the six public works divisions is led by a man.

“Have you heard of the term steel magnolia? I think of her that way because I’ve never heard her raise her voice. I’ve always heard her speak respectfully, even when someone else doesn’t. And she comes off with grace. Michelle has that steel on the inside, but she also has that beauty of the magnolia,” said Tanya Haeri McCarroll, technical services manager at Eugene Public Works, Wastewater Division. 

Miranda’s experience inspired her to mentor early-career professionals. Several of the individuals she’s mentored now hold leadership positions in the public works industry around Eugene and Springfield. Rachael Vaicunas, Principal Civil Engineer for the City of Eugene, met Miranda in 2011 but became her mentee in 2022. 

“I feel like she’s inspiring because she’s really supportive of all of her people,” Vaicunas said. “She really values all the different roles within wastewater. She tries to make time to appreciate people. She’s changed the culture there for the better.”

Thirty years is a long time to spend in one place, but Miranda “isn’t even thinking of retirement yet”. She has considered leaving and, in the past, has applied to other public works leadership positions around Eugene. But she believes she found her true calling at the Eugene-Springfield Water Pollution Control Facility.

“I interviewed for a couple high-level jobs that would have been a pay increase or that would have been a step up or at least a lateral move, but I was never offered any. I always came in second. I never had to make that choice, but I always wondered, ‘Would I have?’ I don’t know. I don’t think so. I just love this place too much,” Miranda said.