Page 179 - SAC - DPW - AMB 09 05 19

Maria Williams-Slaughter

Friday, August 30, 2019 2:01 PM

Why are you interested in the Director of Public Works position with the City of Sacramento?
Tell me a bit about what you know about the City.

I'm interested for a couple of reasons. I am the DPW of a smaller city. Just the opportunity to further
develop and work for a larger municipality is exciting for me. I have been down there quite a bit recently,
my son is going to CalState Sacramento. What I know about he City- the population is pretty substantial,
pretty large budget for public works. I did not realize that there are a couple of different positions.

Please describe your most recent position and day-to-day responsibilities.

Director of PW with City of Carson - 93,000 residents. We are in between the ports of long beach and
los angeles. Primarily industrial, but a very diverse community - the most diverse in Southern California.
We are a charter as of February 2019. I have oversight of the department which has a full-time staff of
150 and about another 100 or so contractors or consultants. I oversee all aspects of operations. I have
the engineering department, solid waste, operations and maintenance, grant administration, storm water
compliance, utilties, I am on the grant team for the entire City. I am on the Bond finance team. All in I
manage the oil pipeline franchises. Provide a lot of different support for the City Manager and Assistant
City Manager.

Please describe a project in which you played a major role in creating pathways for
improvement for those in your community.

We started construction in 2015 and completed in 2018 for a four mile stretch of road right in front of
City hall to the boarder of the next city - we changed all the right of way components - it's a green street
now - we improved bikeability - we put in clean water, changed pathway lighting, safety lights, changed
bus shelters - tried to make it our downtown - what that has helped to do is bring in new developments -
now developers want to come and be a part of the revitalization effort. There is a 357 mixed-use
development right around the corner of City Hall. That project has been the starting point for new
development - it is benefitting the community as a whole.

Please describe your experience in evaluating innovation and operational procedure utilized
in a City department and your approach to staying at the forefront of industry.

NPDS compliance can cost millions of dollars per year. What we have done in the past three years is
obtained grants to address the costs associated with compliance. We secured a grant to put in automatic
retractable screens on 1,300 of our inlets, catch basins. And then I partnered with the County and two
bordering cities to help us put in several chambers underneath one of our parks to capture stormwater. It
has allowed us to get 13m grant from CalTrans and have the other cities contribute - although the units
are in the City of Carson - there are a lot of partnerships like that that I believe are innovative. Because
we are in dSesperate use of resources I thought we should do what we can to bring in money.

It makes us more of a livable community.

Please describe your experience in the areas of public transportation and traffic reduction.