T.J. Moore, director of DeKalb Public Works, may work in the background, but he takes great pride in helping DeKalb function as a city.

Originally from South Elgin, Moore has always called Illinois his home. Once Moore graduated from Larkin High School in Elgin, he went for his undergraduate degree in political science/international relations at NIU. Moore proceeded to get his master’s of public administration (MPA) at NIU.

“It’s I think the best program in the country, certainly in the state, but I think the country,” Moore said.

Moore initially went to NIU to get an undergraduate degree for international relations. He knew he wanted to help people and make a difference.

“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” Moore said. “But I looked at government and said, ‘I want to help people. This is something that appeals to me. This is something where I think I can contribute.’”

Moore said he wanted to change things, including how the U.S. was viewed abroad. He thought the State Department was where he belonged.

It was up until his decision to go to graduate school when Moore decided that local government was his true calling. This change of mind occurred when Moore overheard a conversation between a friend and Dawn Peters, who was an MPA advisor at NIU.

“I didn’t know what local government did beyond police and fire,” Moore said.

It was this conversation with Peters that would change Moore’s entire career path.

“I think I could probably contribute more in local government where I am kind directly involved with the people, than in the Federal Service where in many cases the people are kind of theoretical,” Moore said.

While in the MPA program, Moore received an administrative internship with the Village of Bensenville. This was Moore’s first experience working in local government.

Moore has worked for several communities beside DeKalb including Highland Park, East Dundee and Lake in the Hills.

“I’ve kind of had a really wide breath of different kinds of communities,” Moore said. “There’s lots of different things to pull from each.”

Although Moore is the director of public works in DeKalb, his initial goal was to be a city manager. It wasn’t until his public works position in Bensenville that Moore decided that public works was his ideal place.

“I loved it; I absolutely fell in love with it,” Moore said. “We’re kind of invisible, but we really make cities work.”

Moore doesn’t plan on leaving the public works division of DeKalb anytime soon.

“One of the neat things about DeKalb is that is such an incredibly broad community,” Moore said. “We have everything: We have businesses, we have retail, we have commercial, we have industrial. We have a great economy here in DeKalb.”

Moore takes pride in his position, and the outcome of his work makes DeKalb function.

“I really enjoy public works, this is important to me,” Moore said. “I like making sure that roads are clear and the water is clean and healthy, that really matters to me, I get to be closer to it.”

DeKalb Public Works oversees all of the following: DeKalb Municipal Airport, Building and Code Enforcement, Street Operations, Planning and Development and Water Resources.