Father's Day: Legacies of Service within the City of Charlotte
Published on June 21, 2026
For some City of Charlotte employees, public service is more than a career; it runs in the family.
This Father’s Day, we are spotlighting fathers who work alongside their children to create a unique family legacy.
Robert & Shaunee Andrews
Robert Andrews- Procurement Officer, Contracting and Procurement
Shaunee Andrews- Intern II, Records Management
How did you end up working for the City of Charlotte?
Robert: I was working in government in Florida. Traveled quite a bit all over North Carolina. John Long, who is now an assistant deputy director here in the Contracting and Procurement group, was a procurement manager at the city I worked at. So, he moved up here, and we stayed in communication. I enjoyed working with him, and he said, "You probably ought to come up and take a look around and see what you think," and things kind of worked out really well.
Shaunee: I got voluntold (laughs).
Robert: I volunteered her. She did similar work in records management for smaller cities that my wife worked at. When we moved up here, a need arose for that, so I volunteered her to help. And then the city brought her on as a paid intern and has kept her here for two years.
What do you enjoy about your job?
Shaunee: Because of my thinking process, I like doing repetitive work. For me, it’s very simple. It’s very easy. I’m a very solitary individual. So, very solitary workflow, solitary individual, I get a lot done.
Robert: It’s kind of a neat thing, because I have a lot of variety that I do in my job. I do a lot of one-off special projects. So, it’s kind of nice when you get to cradle to grave something, and you get to see… For me, when we do improvements for the city or for citizens, that's the most rewarding thing for me. We took something that needed improvement, and we got it improved. We made it better.
What’s one lesson from your dad that stayed with you?
Shaunee: First and foremost, honesty is the best policy. Even if you’re blunt.
What is the best thing about being a father?
Robert: For me, it’s just kind of watching her grow and being able to participate in certain things. I have no idea about a lot of the things that she gets into, but it’s kind of neat because I get involved with it on a peripheral level or to help support her. It’s just nice to watch her grow, progress and achieve things, and that’s very rewarding for me.
What’s something you both love doing together?
Robert: We’ll go out and have sushi together or things like that, or we’ll go to Florida to visit folks.
What are you doing for Father’s Day?
Robert: My birthday is right around Father’s Day, so we kind of combine the two. My wife will be up, and we’ll do a little family thing. We’ll all go out to dinner, but it’s a combined event.
Billy & Joseph Cochran
Billy Cochran - Field Operations Supervisor for Street Maintenance, CDOT
Joseph Cochran - Construction Inspector, CDOT
How did you end up working for the City of Charlotte?
Billy: I started way back when I was young, and I thought it would be a very good career. I thought it would be a very stable career, and it has turned out to be extremely stable, very good. There’s tremendous ability to move up and have an upward trajectory and so I decided to come on with the City of Charlotte.
Joseph: I saw that it was a good career path, so right out of high school, I applied, and the rest is history.
What do you enjoy about your job?
Billy: Well, I enjoy getting out into the community because, as a field operations supervisor, I have to interact with all of our field crews. I also get to interact with the community on a daily basis, and so I think it’s a wonderful thing to get to interact with them, talk to them. You meet new people, and you’re exposed to a lot of different things, and I think it helps you grow and mature and helps you become much more well-rounded. I enjoy the fact that we’re contributing to the community and that the citizens are very well pleased with that, which we’re trying to achieve for them.
Joseph: I inspect traffic signals. That’s what I’ve done my whole career, is learn how to build intersections. I really enjoy the intricacies of it and how it’s such a niche job that not everybody knows how to do. So, I enjoy being able to ride around and say, "I put that signal there," or "I did this intersection," and seeing how you shape the world you live in.
What’s one lesson from your dad that stayed with you?
Joseph: Just stick with it. Stick with it. I saw how he came in at a low level and worked his way up through, and now he’s an operations supervisor. That really helped me, even whenever I came in as just a crew member, just to keep the mindset. Just stick with it, and you’ll get there.
What is the best thing about being a father?
Billy: It has been a wonderful thing to watch him grow, mature. He’s become a very, very fine man, and he is very ethical, very moral, and loves God very much. So, to watch him become the man, the human being that he is, has been the absolute most wonderful blessing of my life.
What’s something you both love doing together?
Joseph: Fish.
Billy: Fish. We fish. It’s a wonderful thing. We don’t go fishing, we go catching, and so we usually catch a lot of fish. It’s a very, very enjoyable time, and there’s a wonderful, healthy competition as to who’s going to get the biggest fish.
What’s something you both plan to do together later this year or in the future?
Billy: Duck hunting.
Joseph: Yep.
Billy: He is a duck hunter. I am not, but I’m going to go this fall, and I’m going to learn how to duck hunt, because I see his enthusiasm and his passion for that. He’s all in. So, I decided if he’s that into it, there’s got to be something substantial to it. So, he’s going to teach me how to duck hunt this fall.
Joseph: Yep. I promised him I’d take him out this year.
What are you doing for Father’s Day?
Billy: I’m pretty sure there’ll be some food involved somewhere. [We’ll] probably go to a nice restaurant and just enjoy spending time together. Just relaxing and enjoying his company will be the highlight of my day.