Secretary of State Dean Heller swore in newly designated State Engineer Hugh Ricci before a small group of state officials, family and friends in Heller's office Monday at the Capitol.
Ricci, 56, has been employed with the State of Nevada for 30 years, first with the Highway Department and then with the Division of Environmental Protection. In 1981 he joined the State Division of Water Resources as an engineer and has worked in every branch of the State Engineers' Office since and for the past 10 years as deputy state engineer.
"Hugh is fully capable of making the day-to-day decisions the state engineers are required to make based on the Comprehensive Water Law," said Michael Turnipseed, who held the post for 10 years before becoming director of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Ricci was named to the position in July, and assumed responsibility Aug. 2.
A native of East Ely, he graduated from White Pine High School in 1962 and from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. He spent two years in the Army, the first year with the chemical corps in Denver and the second in Vietnam.