Working in Clark County, a brief profile of interesting Clark County business owners or a worker in the public, private, or nonprofit sector. Send ideas to Mary Ricks: mary.ricks@columbian.com; fax 360-735-4598; phone 360-735-4550.
After serving in the military, Frank Costanza was volunteering with a mountain rescue group when one of the other volunteers told him about a surveyor job at MacKaySposito. Costanza applied and was hired. “I like the camaraderie. … It is nice to bond with others and experience something new together,” Costanza says.
Name: Frank Costanza.
Job/employer: Surveyor at Mackay Sposito for 13 years.
Age: 43
Education/professional background: I graduated from high school in New Mexico. I served four years in the Marines and returned to Albuquerque, N.M., where I met my future wife, who was attending the University of New Mexico. She was from Vancouver and, later, we packed up and moved to Vancouver.
I joined a mountain rescue team, out of Yacolt, in 1996 and met my future boss, Mike Nichols, in the group. Nichols said there was a job opening as a surveyor at MacKay Sposito. I started surveying in 2001. I have been very fortunate to have learned on the job. I have taken occasional classes and have studied on my own.
I think the job is exciting. I have gone to different sites and I have traveled to other states, including Alaska and Hawaii. In those two states, we were surveying to expand or improve Federal Aviation Administration airfields.
I used to spend most of my time out in the field but now I am doing more drafting. We need to map where new power lines will be placed or where towers can be built. There is multiple measuring of land, and when we do on-site visits, we are able to give a “boots on the ground” perspective to our clients about the terrain.
Most rewarding part of job: The camaraderie. We work in small teams and maybe because of my military experience, it is nice to bond with others and experience something new together.
Most challenging part of job: The problem solving. Sometimes getting from one place to another through difficult terrain is difficult. We have had to jump from ship to ship to calibrate instruments when the ships were dredging Columbia channel.
My business philosophy: Work hard, and when things get difficult, work harder.
Something you would like to do over: I wish I would have known that I was going into this type of work. I might have gone to school, and I believe it would have been easier to move ahead and into leadership positions.
Residence: Rose Village.
Best feature of my Vancouver/Clark County community: I like the small-town feel and am pleased with how the downtown area has been rejuvenated.
What would make your community a better place: Less panhandling.
Favorite restaurant/pub/coffee shop/store: Shanahan’s Pub and Grill and breakfast at Dulin’s Cafe.
Hobbies: I am a falconer and have a red-tail hawk. I have been pursuing the hobby for about two years.
Favorite travel destination: My family likes sea kayaking at Willapa Bay and the bay’s Long Island.
Most interesting book in last 12 months: “We Were One” by Patrick K. O’Donnell about a group of Marines who took Fallujah, Iraq.
Most interesting play/movie/arts event: I like the Recycled Arts Festival.
One thing you want to do this year: I would like to take my neighbor to the hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque, N.M.
Something you want to do within five years: I would like to begin the steps to getting my land surveyor’s license.
One word to describe yourself: Loyal.
Person you’d most like to meet: Former senator and astronaut John Glenn.
