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The man who oversaw the construction of nearly all of the village’s streets, sewers and water mains will retire at the end of April.

Director of Public Works Orlo Benson has worked for the village for nearly 35 years and is the only public works director the village has ever had.

When Benson, 68, was first employed by Bartlett, village operations were low-tech. Every morning he had to start the village wells by hand.

Since then, Bartlett has grown from a rural settlement to a booming suburb of 19,373 people. Along the way, Benson supervised the building of streets that extended into three counties.