Celina names new engineering director to guide rapid growth

Celina has chosen Will Janney to lead the department that sits at the center of the city’s growth headache, from roadway design and drainage to water and wastewater lines. Janney will become director of engineering effective June 8, bringing nearly 20 years of engineering and infrastructure experience from both the public and private sectors.

The hire matters because Celina’s Engineering Department does more than approve plans. It manages bond-funded work on roads, drainage systems, roadway median lighting, water distribution and wastewater collection, and it reviews subdivision plats and private development engineering plans before construction can move forward. In a city where every new neighborhood depends on pipes, pavement and stormwater capacity, that review process can decide whether growth moves smoothly or gets stuck behind infrastructure bottlenecks.

Celina’s pace makes that job especially consequential. U.S. Census Bureau estimates put the city’s population at 64,427 on July 1, 2025, up from 16,739 in the 2020 census and 6,028 in 2010. The bureau said Celina grew 24.6% from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025, one of the fastest rates in the country for a city of its size. The city says it covers 78 square miles and describes its expansion as exponential, a scale that keeps pressure on local engineering, planning and permitting.

That pressure is already showing up in the city’s capital plan. Celina’s five-year capital improvement program for fiscal years 2025 through 2029 lays out roads, drainage, sidewalks, signal lights, street lights, fire stations, police stations, parks, water and wastewater, and stormwater projects. The city’s updated engineering construction details took effect May 1, 2023, and its drainage design rules require applicants to meet with city engineering staff before formal submission of drainage plans, underscoring how central the department is to development control.

The biggest near-term test may be keeping water infrastructure ahead of rooftops. In April 2026, Celina City Council approved an $18.39 million Glendenning water transmission line project to extend service from FM 428 to a new high-pressure pump station. That kind of project is exactly where an engineering director’s choices ripple outward, shaping how quickly new homes, commercial projects and street connections can come online in North Texas. Janney’s appointment puts a veteran engineer in charge of a department that will help determine whether Celina’s next phase of growth is orderly or overloaded.