George Madsen

George Madsen, PE served as president of the Orange County Branch from October 1969 to September 1970.  George Madsen obtained degrees of BSCE and MSCE. He became the Costa Mesa City Engineer, Public Works Director and Manager of the Costa Mesa Sanitation District. Later he joined the civil engineering firm of Woodside and Kaboda & Assocs. as a principal. He is a Fellow and Life Member of ASCE and was named the Engineer ofthe Year of the ASCE Orange County Branch in 1995.

George Madsen was born in Fresno, California on March 15, 1934. He lettered in football, basketball (2 championship teams), track and was captain of the baseball team in high school and was class president. During this time he became an Eagle Scout. He received his BSCE and MSCE degrees in 1955 and 1958 from the California Institute of Technology where be lettered in basketball (1 championship team), swimming and diving and was captain of the baseball team. He was class Secretary & Treasurer, Member of Tau Beta Phi, was President of the ASCE Student Chapter. He was honored by ASCE for being first in his class. In graduate school be worked as a Research Assistant in the Hydraulic Lab.

Upon completing his BS degree be was commissioned into the U. S. Public Health Service as a Jr. Asst. Sanitary Engineer (2nd Lt.). He served one year in the Office of Engineering Resources, Washington D. C. and 15 months at the Arctic Health Research Center, Anchorage, Alaska where he designed and built 3 experimental houses for Eskimos in the back country allowing him to spend 5 months living in Eskimo villages. He spent 2 months assigned to the American Red Cross estimating flood damage in Pennsylvania and California. He continued in the inactive reserve and obtained the rank of Colonel.

Following his MS degree he went to work for the Orange County Flood Control District in Santa Ana. A former professor Dr. Jack Mckee enticed him to go to San Diego to head up a temporary office to prepare and publish the "North San Diego County Sewerage Survey 1960" A 235 page Master Plan. Upon completion of the report, he went to work for the City of Costa Mesa, California as Assistant City Engineer. He worked there for 11 years, becoming City Engineer, Public Works Director and Manager of the Costa Mesa Sanitary District. He assisted with the design of many parks, traffic signals, streets, drains etc. He established the Traffic Engineering Dept., the Master Plans of Drainage, Traffic and Parks.  He worked with Caltrans on the details of three freeways through the City. He established standards for parking bays, double left tum pockets, flared Driveways, etc. He established the first left tum pockets in the City, the first five and ten year capitol improvement programs. He was Assistant Director of Civil Defense, Vice Chairman of the Accident Com., Chairman of the Traffic Com. and President of the Credit Union.

In 1971, he joined Woodside/Kubota and Assoc' s. as Project Manager/Senior Vice President, and eventually Chairman of the Board of Directors. He acted as City Engineer for the City of San Juan Capistrano where he assisted in establishing Master Plans of Water, Sewers, Drainage and Highways. He managed projects of street widening, traffic signals, sewers, drains, bicycle trails, etc. In other areas he managed projects for the master plans of water and sewers, pump stations, reservoirs, floating covers for reservoirs, sliplining sewer force mains inside abandoned oil lines in Signal Hill, prepared assessment diagrams and spread assessments and handled community facility districts. He prepared specifications, administered contracts and coordinated projects with other agencies.

In 1988, he joined Williamson and Schmid (now Huitt-Zollars) as a Project Manager for the development of about 1,000 acres of industrial and commercial property around the Ontario Airport. He worked on numerous sewer studies and designs. He did field and office investigations on many litigation cases involving land development, drainage, accidents, etc.  He retired in 1999 and continues consulting in the litigation arena. During his career he became registered as a Civil and Traffic Engineer in California, Notary Public and a Real Estate Salesperson.  George belonged to many professional associations. In ASCE he is a Fellow, Life Member, Past President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Engineer of the Year 1995 of the Orange County Branch. He has served on many committees. He also served on the History & Heritage and 150th Anniversary Committees. He researched and prepared the report to establish the Santa Ana Army Air Base as an ASCE Historical Landmark. He received the Orange County Engineering Council 1995 Outstanding Engineering Merit Award and was inducted as a Fellow in the Institute for the Advancement of Engineering. In his Church he has served 15 years as a ruling Elder, chaired many committees including: Building, Christian Education, Property & Finance, Nomination, Personnel, Building Task Force, Membership & Fellowship. He also served as Church School Superintendent, President of the Board of Trustees and High School Advisor. He assisted an Eagle Scout form a scout troop in the church, provided surveys for the site, designed a portion of parking lot, administered the contract and did the inspection and did the inspection and did the drainage design for the site as well as serving on all building committees since 1962.