Sonoma County supervisors merge department handling real estate into transportation and public works

Facing the need to fill several high level vacancies across county departments, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is going forward with a trial merger of the General Services Department and the Department of Transportation and Public Works.

The board voted unanimously Jan. 25 to placed General Services, the county’s real estate and property agency, under the supervision of Johannes Hoevertsz, the director of transportation and public works, for a six-month trial period.

General Services, with a budget of $45.3 million and about 108 permanent employees, is responsible for managing the county’s facilities and property holdings, handling contracting with outside vendors, maintaining county vehicles and the veterans memorial buildings.

The department is also responsible for overseeing the county’s energy use and sustainability efforts, but the County Administrator’s Office will absorb that work.

While much of the department’s work is internal, it has handled high profile projects including the sale of the county’s Chanate Road campus, which the county auctioned off for $15 million in November. It is now leading the county’s efforts to build a new government campus in downtown Santa Rosa.

The department’s merger with Transportation and Public Works, which has a $180.1 million budget and 173 permanent employees, means Hoevertsz will oversee one of the largest combined budgets and workforces across the county’s two dozen departments and agencies, with over 4,000 employees in all.

Hoevertsz has served as director of transportation and public works since 2017, and became the department’s deputy director in 2015.

“He’s top of the game,” Board of Supervisors Chair James Gore said in an interview with The Press Democrat. “I have a ton of confidence in him.”

Transportation and Public Works is responsible for maintenance of the 1,400-mile road network outside of cities, operates the county bus system and Charles M. Shultz-Sonoma County Airport, and oversees the county’s landfill northwest of Petaluma.

Hoevertsz’s experience in dealing with contracts and maintaining vehicles already overlaps with some of the new responsibilities he will now inherit, Gore said.

“The goal is increased efficiency, coordination, progress, progress progress,” Gore said.

He added in a later interview that the move is not about cutting costs, though some savings are likely.

“The intention was not we ‘we’re going to save money,’” Gore said. “It was about improving.”

Hoevertsz told The Press Democrat he believes the way the county procures contracts can be more efficient. He noted that other counties have general services operating as a division of their public works agencies.

The board approved an 8% raise for Hoevertsz for the 6-month trial, bringing his salary to $244,198.

At the end of the six month trial, the board will determine whether to make the move permanent.

“At the end of six months I hope we have a framework on how to better serve our clients and maybe save some money,” Hoevertsz said.

The county has undertaken larger department mergers in the past. In 1995, it consolidated five different departments into one planning and permitting department now called Permit Sonoma. The Auditor-Controller-Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office, combined in 2006, and Clerk-Recorder-Assesor and Registrar of Voters, combined in 2001, are other examples of the county’s consolidation efforts.

The merger comes as General Services Director Caroline Judy is set to retire on Feb. 8, a decision she announced in October 2021.

As the county’s chief real estate official, Judy led the department through a long list of projects topped by last year’s sale of the county’s troubled Chanate campus to a Las Vegas based developer and the county’s pursuit of a new government complex in downtown Santa Rosa — a costly and ambitious undertaking that Hoevertsz will now inherit.

“You took us through the trials and tribulations of land use, Chanate, contracting, reform of our sustainability division, veterans buildings,” Gore said of Judy during the board’s Jan. 25 meeting. “These are amazingly hot-button issues.”

Hoevertsz said he’ll embrace the challenge of taking on the department and has been meeting weekly with Judy to prepare.

Hoevertsz said he will still be involved in Transportation and Public Works’ operations and has confidence in his deputy directors, Janice Thompson and Trish Pisenti, who will take more prominent roles in project oversight where Hoevertsz has to step back.

“It’s a great opportunity,” Hoevertsz said. “We look forward to hopefully in July or August, to go to the board with a plan.”

The county has struggled in the past year with the departure of several department heads who cited either disaster fatigue or racial bias as their reasons for leaving. The loss of department heads sparked criticism that the board needs to do more to support its employees as they work to meet growing demands brought on by emergencies like wildfire and floods, and the pandemic.

“We have a tendency in Sonoma County to devolve into multiple initiative disorder,” Gore said.

He added that his goal as chair this year is to achieve stability and expects the board will review the county’s reporting structure and consider which department heads should report directly to County Administrator Sheryl Bratton and which report to the board.

“I don’t think it’s a good model to have a department head report to five people, even if they govern by a majority vote or unanimous,” Gore said.

In addition to Judy, the board is looking to permanently fill top positions at the Department of Health Services, the Economic Development Board and Information Technology.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.