Having been a town Planning Board member for at least 10 years, Jon Long is now getting used to his role as engineer. Photo by Brian Quinn

Jonathan Long presided over his final Planning Board meeting in the town of Batavia Tuesday night, though he's certainly not leaving town.

Today is the last official day after at least 10 years on the board for Long, who was chairman for the last couple of years. He's already begun his new position as town engineer and will replace Steve Mountain when the latter retires.

"It's been a pleasure to serve this board and the community. It's been great working with all of you," he told board members toward the end of the meeting. "We've seen a lot develop in the town over the years. I look forward to continuing to support the board in a different role - as the town engineer," he said.

Long said Mountain will continue as engineer until he officially retires.

"I look forward to being able to serve the community as the town engineer," he said.

The ag park projects by HP Hood LLC stand out in Long's memory from his time on the Planning Board.

"The community benefit they had for the area - those were the biggest projects that I've been involved in," he said.

Long said he applied for the engineer's position when it was posted. He has roughly two decades of experience as an engineer.

"I was a civil engineer, professional engineer too with the DOT (state Department of Transportation). I was a construction supervisor," he said. "I've been out there 20 years. Before that, I worked with some consulting companies. I like seeing things built ... from the scoping phase, planning phase all the way through construction and then seeing the benefits to the community, when projects get built."

Long said he has a heavy focus on highway and transportation throughout his background with the state Department of Transportation.

"I've seen a lot of commercial projects here, been involved with them," he said.