"Just get it done."

That was the order to Joe Borst one day in 1961 when as civilian contractor at a nuclear missile site, he learned a support strut that would guide one of those nuclear tipped birds out of the tube and into its fateful flight had failed.

And it fell on him to fix it.

Flash forward to 2016, and Newtown residents are still depending on Mr Borst to get things done, and he has more than obliged. His latest achievement is being named Newtown's first chairman emeritus of the Public Building & Site Commission (PBSC).

The former one-term first selectman has served so many other appointed and volunteer roles in town that they are practically too numerous to count. He came to Newtown for the first time in 1955 and almost immediately began his public service by becoming a justice of the peace.

But the one that may count the most has been his role working on public projects. While the commission's name has changed over the years, Mr Borst's advice and consultation on the many high-ticket capital building projects he has overseen remains consistent.

In referring him to this newly created post, First Selectman Pat Llodra recognizes that Newtown's project list is growing and will include high school auditorium renovations, the community center build, roofing projects for various schools, probable improvements at the senior center and more.

"We see this shift in role as a way to maintain your high-level participation without adding the burden of specific project oversight," the first selectman wrote. "Although the emeritus role is non-voting, you will continue to have a 'seat at the table'; your voice and opinion on projects will continue to be heard and respected. And, your presence with the commission will be honored for as long as you wish to serve."

Robert Mitchell, an architect and current chairman of the PBSC, has known Mr Borst for more than 15 years. He fondly recalled the night his newly reappointed colleague returned to the commission after serving a challenging two years as first selectman.

"Joe was a past chair of PBSC," Mr Mitchell said. "So he came into [that] PBSC meeting - I believe early 2013 - waving his card and saying how he had been placed on PBSC the previous night by the Board of Selectman. He was like a kid in a candy shop, excited to be joining us again."

And the commission was glad to have him back.

"Joe has a mental history of Newtown that is an incredible resource to us. He helps give PBSC a personality," Mr Mitchell said. "We may wander quite a bit from our discussions while Joe describes the growth and development of a project site, or why part of Sandy Hook looks the way it does. But he adds color to our discussions and deliberations."

The PBSC chairman said that meeting minutes could never convey the breadth and scope of Mr Borst's contributions.

"His memories of the projects, how they were run, the various personalities is vivid," Mr Mitchell added.

A Lifelong Passion For Project Management

Sitting at his residence one recent morning, Mr Borst reviewed a few of his career highlights from a neatly typed and hand-printed list that mirrored his passion for project management and problem solving dating back to the late 1950s, when he completed military service in the US Air Force.

The first major project he helped oversee for the town was the completion of the highway department garage on Turkey Hill Road. But a couple of his most complex challenges were during two separate civilian-led projects for the US government.

Then first involved figuring out the best way to deliver several H34 Sikorsky helicopters to the Israeli government.

"I was in the customer service department, and they asked me to figure out a place where we could fly those helicopters and land them so we could transfer them to a ship the Israeli government was sending up from South America," Mr Borst recalled.

After getting a request rejected from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, he found a deep water port in Philadelphia, but the channel was not deep enough to get the transport ship up to the wharf where the choppers would land.

"So I planned for us to land one helicopter at a time on the end of the wharf, fold the blades up, and send it out to the ship on a transfer barge," he said.

Following the successful completion of that project, Mr Borst received an official letter of thanks from the Israel Ministry of Defense. That was in April 1960.

But it was the aforementioned Minute Man missile mishap a few years later that may have best showcased Mr Borst's talent for high pressure problem solving.

He was contracting for Boeing at that point, and he had just learned one of the suspension brackets in one of the nuclear missile silos had failed.

"When I told the site supervisors that one of the brackets broke and needed to be welded, he said to take care of it. But I said, hey, there's a missile in that hole," Mr Borst recalled with vivid detail. "So they said 'It's your job, just get it done.'"

Sizing up the situation on site, he noted a tank truck full of ionized water on site and ordered his workers to suspend his welders from a repair track ledge near the failed bracket, and shroud them in a canvas tent to keep any sparks and hot materials from the weld from hitting the nuclear missile.

"Then I called for the water truck to pump water into the base of the silo, so if any of those sparks fell from the canvas cover, they'd fall in the water instead of under the missile engines," he said. "It worked out and we were able to make the fix."

Over the course of his time in town, Mr Borst was a point person consulting on the conversion of a former tractor and power supply store into the current police station and municipal office home for the local social service agency and recreation offices.

He also consulted on the original high school construction project and a number of other school projects, including a number of roof installations or upgrades.

Mr Borst said one of the most exciting projects on the drawing board for the town is a solar farm the town is on developing on a large parcel of the local landfill. And while he is the one being honored, Mr Borst said he is equally honored to be able to continue serving beside his fellow commissioners.

"Every one of them is excellent. I have no objection to anyone on that commission," he said.

Recalling the scope of Mr Borst's public service, Mrs Llodra said she maintains a "deep respect and appreciation for all he has done for our community."

"Joe's public service and civic involvement has spanned more than four decades," she said. "There is little that he has not influenced in some way. He is one of the most kind and generous persons I have ever had the pleasure of working with."

And, she added, his commitment to Newtown is unquestionable.

"His capacity for giving of himself is remarkable and he seems to be always driven by the common good," Mrs Llodra said. "We have benefited by his service and thank him for all he has done."

Mr Borst travels to Mr Mitchell's Southbury office, about two miles from the Borsts' modest Sandy Hook home, on a regular basis to discuss projects under PBSC.

"He reviews documents provided by the project teams, brings up his views during our meetings. He has been here so often that we have an official Joe mug with his initial on it," Mr Mitchell said. "Every town has an asset like Joe. We have the advantage that we recognized him."