Sonoma County’s first female transportation and public works director leaving her post

Susan Klassen, who began her career with Sonoma County’s Transportation and Public Works Department as a junior engineer in 1985 and rose through the ranks, has announced that she will step down as director of the high-profile agency and retire.

“It’s just time,” Klassen, 58, said Wednesday.

She said her last day will be Oct. 9.

Klassen oversees 166 employees and a budget of ?$138 million. The department’s responsibilities include roads and public transit, the county airport, multiple waste disposal sites, water systems and regulation of air quality and emissions.

“We’re kind of in the background of everyone’s quality of life,” Klassen said of the agency. “When I look back at what I’ve accomplished over the years, that’s what I’m most proud of - the bridges we replaced, the roads we resurfaced, the fact we got the landfill re-opened. That was a huge feat, that we’re not driving our garbage all over the Bay Area or California. We’re taking care of it here, in a sustainable manner.”

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, the board’s chairwoman, credited Klassen as a pioneer, saying she broke the “glass ceiling” when she became the first woman to lead the county’s Transportation and Public Works Department. Klassen became director in 2013.

“Without a doubt, she’s got one of the most demanding jobs in the county,” Zane said. “She does it with uncommon grace, professionalism and brilliance day in and day out.”

Among the accomplishments Zane cited during Klassen’s tenure are the expansion of Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport and a 2015 contract with Arizona-based garbage company Republic Services to operate the county landfill.

Among the current challenges facing Klassen’s department is a $3.7 million budget shortfall in the road operations division stemming from a yearslong decline in state gas tax revenues and rising operational costs. Severe storms this winter were a separate expense, and strained road crews.

A massive state transportation funding package signed into law in April could help cover the shortfall by delivering about $3.8 million in new revenue next fiscal year - and three times that amount in future years.

Supervisors indicated Wednesday they plan to split state revenue next year between paving and road maintenance, which would close about half the maintenance funding gap.

Klassen said the additional state revenue, along with decisions made by county supervisors to funnel money into an ongoing pavement replacement program, has the department in relatively good shape going forward.

“We are so much better than we were five years ago,” Klassen said. “The future is pretty secure.”

Klassen was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the East Bay. After earning a civil engineering degree from Chico State University, she held jobs with Caltrans and with Kern County prior to taking the job in Sonoma County.

Her early work involved permit and contract compliance in the Integrated Waste division, she said. She later spent about a decade in the roads division before moving up the ladder and taking on increased responsibilities as a manager.

She held the title of deputy director for about ?10 years prior to being elevated to the top job. She was paid nearly $212,000 in 2016.

County supervisors are scheduled to discuss a replacement Friday in closed session.

Klassen said she hopes her two deputies - John McCarthy and Johannes Hoevertsz - are among the candidates.

“Of course they should be considered, but my expectation is the board will do what they normally do and cast a wide net,” Klassen said.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336.