February 19, 2025 • 21 mins
From potholes to sandbags, Public Works Director Warren Lai shares more about how the department helps keep the community safe and running smoothly and what actions residents can take to prepare for stormy weather.
Guests: Public Works Director Warren Lai, Public Works PIO Kelly Kalfsbeek, and Host Kristi Jourdan
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to government Speak.
This is where we'll cut throughthe government speak to get the
information you need aboutcounty programs, services, and
events straight from the source.
Welcome to Government Speak,
Contra Costa County'sofficial podcast.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer, and onthis episode we have Public
works director Warren Lai andpublic information officer
(00:22):
Kelly Kavsbeck joining usin studio at 10 Douglas.
Warren, Kelly, welcometo the podcast.
Thank you, Christie.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Um, so doesn't the name of thedepartment doesn't sound very
intuitive, but whatdoes public works do?
What are the areas offocus for your team?
Right on, right on.
No, Public Worksdoes soup to nuts.
It does everything.
(00:44):
Um, so there's twoparts of public works.
There's obviouslythe outward side.
It's roads, bridges, ormaintain traffic signals.
We're out there maintainingstop signs or trimming trees or
keeping the travelingpublic safe.
And then we have the internalside which is supporting other
county departments.
So we obviously have a hospitalthat we uh maintain, um, we
(01:04):
maintain thedetention facilities.
We're out supporting differentdepartments, the elections,
making sure that their officesare up and running, we're
supporting them in theirservices they provide.
So you could be out in thefield doing roadwork one
moment, and the next momentworking in a county facility to
make sure that it's, you know,
(01:25):
up and running andworkable for folks.
Exactly. We have over 500 staffthat are doing this, so it's
maintenance workers, it'scarpenters, it's plumbers, it's
HVHC technicians, there'sengineers, there's planners.
We have them all.
So how many miles of roads doyou maintain, bridges, all that
sort of thing?
Over 660 miles.
(01:45):
So unincorporated county allthe way out in the east to
Bethel Island, all the way westto El Cerrito, Richmond, as far
south as San Ramon.
So you're really, I mean,you're covering everything, and
you also have the twoairports too, right?
You've got and Byron.
It's really excitingtimes for us actually.
We have two airports like youmentioned, um, Byron Airport,
um, home of Jet.
(02:08):
Was it uh Patriot, yeah, thePatriot team which uh helped
out in Top Gun.
And then we have Buchanan FieldAirport, uh, recently newly
constructed terminal building,so a lot of exciting stuff.
Um, And we'll kind of go intostorm season a little bit too,
which is fitting because Iknow it's raining pretty hard
outside just so happens today,but, um, so storm season, a lot
(02:28):
of messaging comes out of yourdepartment for, you know, storm
preparedness, storm safety.
How does the departmentprepare for bad weather?
I know we're not just sittingaround waiting for it.
We're actually planning aheadfor it, no, no, and storm
preparedness happensyear round, so.
You know, in the fall, our
maintenance crews are out there.
They're, they're inspectingall our facilities, they're
clearing out drains, they'reclearing out ditches.
(02:50):
They're getting ready for thestorms, we're prepositioning,
um, assets such assandbag stations.
We're getting the word out,um, letting folks know.
Hey, it's gotta be apartnership and so what can you
do in your community?
And so I think what's umimportant is community
preparedness and as a resident,you know, you go and clean out
your gutters and you can do thesame for your own home and your
(03:12):
community, um, takea, take an assessment.
Look at where, where watertypically ponds or floods,
clear out, um, your drains, um,
look for stormdrains in your area.
Um, I would avoidparking over them.
That tends to be an issue, um,especially in the fall when we
have lots of leaves, so theyclog the drains and a lot of
(03:32):
our crews for that first storm,it's usually going out, beating
the residents, um, clearing outdrains, um, and we also do want
to mention, um, our sandbagstations, we have 6 sandbag
stations locatedthroughout the county.
And I know we really pushedthat, um, messaging out, Kelly,
as the public informationofficer, you're putting that
messaging out aroundthe sandbag stations.
(03:53):
Do you have any statsfor us about, you know.
Amount of bags, amountof sand, all of that.
And in a typical year, we, weput out about 4000 sandbags a
year, um, in oursandbag station.
So when you go out there, um,
that's a lot of tonnage of sand.
And so when you're talkingabout going out there, um,
there's self-servicesandbags, right?
So what does that mean?
(04:14):
Um, so residents or community
members can go toeach sandbag station.
There there'll be a pile ofsand, uh, their sandbags, um,
residents are asked to bringtheir own shovel, um, and fill
up your own sandbag.
We also encourage them to bringsomeone with them because it's
a lot easier to uh fill thesandbags and to transport them,
obviously, if you havesomeone else there with you.
(04:34):
OK, so it's really, um, theresources available, but you
need some assistance,um, to do that.
You need to, that's kind ofthe community preparedness, you
know, perspective thatyou're talking about.
When you're talking aboutcleaning out the drains, why is
that important or lookingat your, your property?
I mean, what does it matterif my neighbor doesn't do that
work on his or herproperty, but I'm doing it?
(04:56):
What are, what's theimpact potentially?
So the first important part isobviously we don't want your
neighbors to flood, so we'regonna talk about flooding,
don't flood your neighbors tooit's obviously those drains
they back up so I wanna makesure we talk about that.
I would say situationalsituational awareness is is
being not only aware of what'shappening on your property but
(05:16):
what's happening nearby yourproperty so your roadside
ditches, your culverts, your umstorm drains, even the side of
your driveways, there's a lotof things that people just need
to be aware of and if you seethat there's a storm drain on
That maybe is not rightin front of your house but
your street.
adjacent to your house andthat's plugged that could end
up flooding your neighborhoodand flooding your property.
(05:36):
So once again it's just thesituational awareness is
walking your neighborhood,
being aware of what'shappening there.
We really encourage peopleto go to our website
CCCPublicworks.org and we'vegot a lot of great flood
forecasting tools.
We've got um flood maps, soknow what your flood risk is in
your particular area.
(05:57):
Um, if you've been prone toflooding before, again, we want
you to be proactive, but, um,again, it's like if, if you're
downhill from somebody oryou're near a drain that's
that's plugged up, it could endup affecting your property and
So we want to make sure thatyou just stay aware of that.
your neighborhood.
So community preparednessis really about the whole
community and making sure that,you know, we acknowledge these
(06:17):
systems are connected and sothe behaviors that we have on
our property could actuallyimpact something else down the
road, right?
Absolutely. And that's why wealso suggest to people, if you
see something, saysomething to us.
If you see some drainage maybein your neighborhood that it
looks like it's starting toback up, you know, reach out to
us and notify us, requestservices, report a service
(06:38):
issue to us so we canlook into that problem.
Well, let's talk about that.
So you have a lot of differentresources and tools to provide
information to folks, um,before a storm happens and then
while you know there's astorm actually occurring.
What are some of the waysthat people can report?
We've got a lot of great toolsand resources available for our
customers to report.
(06:59):
Service issues um or you knowrequest services from us we
have our mobile citizen appwhich is free for download.
We also have our customerportal which is web based and
allows people to requestservices or report service
issues either anonymously or becreating an account or they can
call us at 925-313-7000.
That's our maintenancedivision, but all these
(07:21):
resources are available on our
website which isCCCPublicworks.org.
And um no matter how youcontact us, we just appreciate
you being once again proactiveand reaching out and letting us
know when you see something sowe can address the issue before
it becomes a problem.
And that just automaticallyassuming that you're aware of
it already.
(07:42):
Um, I know you know there aresome folks who might just make
that assumption so it's betterto get multiple reports on an
issue than it is tonot report it at all.
Absolutely. And if, if morethan one person reports it to
us, then we add that on to ourservice request so we let them
know that several peopleare concerned about it.
Also if you once again, ifyou want to be notified what's
happening as a result of therequest that you made, we can
notify you what actions that
(08:05):
we're taking and whatsteps are happening.
So it's really atrue partnership.
It's you're getting informationin, but you're also making sure
that people know that there'san action being taken, that
their feedback is being heard,that you're, you know, you're
addressing issues that need tobe addressed absolutely because
public safety is our priority.
So we want it again, as Warren
mentioned, we want itto be a partnership.
(08:25):
We want them to know that notonly are we being responsive to
the requests that they'remaking, but we also want to
give them the tools that they
can use to keep themselves safe.
And so.
Yeah, no, absolutely, uh,because I think that throughout
the years we're working on, youknow, storm preparedness, you
know, the county, wedo a pretty good job of
participating with the NationalFlood Insurance program and a
(08:45):
little bit about that throughFEMA is, is what types of
practices as an agency do we doto help encourage our community
and our folks to have betterflood management practices and
because we do certain thingslike have a floodplain
management ordinance andwe're doing outreach.
And we're informing folks wereceive a 20% discount for
flood insurance premiums forall unincorporated residents of
(09:06):
Contra Costa County.
So if you're out there, you'rein a special flood hazard area
and you need to get floodinsurance, you get 20% off your
premiums just by being an
unincorporatedContra Costa County.
And that's another example ofbeing a good stewardship, uh,
you know, with, withtaxpayer funded resources.
So, um, Warren, how long have
(09:27):
you worked for public works now?
Wow, it seems like uh.
Seems like a long time.
It's been 26 years.
I came, uh, started as anentry level engineer in 1998.
And you know, young Warrenaspire to become the director?
I mean, this is a relativelynew transition for you.
(09:47):
This is, um, you know, a couple
of years into themix now, right?
You're heading into.
I'm so it's, it's been a wild.
Gratifying. I think one thingas director, your first year,
realize how much support youreceived when you become a
department head, um, andthe support from the county
administrator's office, thesupport from my department
(10:09):
wanting me to be successful,to provide the services that we
have and to leadthis department.
So what are some of the umareas of focus for you and the
team as you head in,you know, to 2025?
What are some thingsthat you're focusing on?
I think I think a coupleof things internal.
Focus of mine is to talk aboutour department leadership and
the focus on people processand results and people is about
(10:33):
relationships and therelationships we have with one
another and the teams that webuild and process is about how
we do business.
Are we reaching out to othersor we're collaborating how we
make decisions and then theresults, which is the final
product, are we doing what wesee what we're doing and are we
doing meaningful work?
And I always kind of think.
Working on the rightthing at the right time?
(10:54):
And are we doing that, askingthat question constantly and
thinking, is this, is thismeaningful to the community?
Is it meaningful to each other?
And is that result,does it hit the mark?
Are there um
specific locations in thecounty that you're focusing on
with some of yourwork, or are there um.
Goals, you know, humanizingthe work I think is huge.
(11:15):
I know for, for thestorytellers of the county,
myself included, you know, Ireally want to acknowledge the
people behind the work becausethe public service doesn't
happen without the people to,
to put on theprograms and services.
So what does that mean for you?
You know, this last recentstorms that we're going through
right now, you start seeingpictures of your folks, our
maintenance crews out there.
(11:37):
They're unclogging a drainand you see that where they're
doing it, they're.
As a matter of fact, over theweekend, they were working over
at Contra Costa Center inPleasant Hill Bar, and yeah, it
could be a simple drain thatthey're that they're, excuse
me, that they're unclogging,but you realize there's traffic
There's people that are usingthose facilities, and there's
backed up.
somebody out there that'sdoing that work and it's very
(11:57):
gratifying because you do hear,wow, it got cleared, or you see
it on, on Nixel or you see iton the media, road is cleared
and there's a certain feelingyou get, and I almost equate it
to that.
As we're in the holidays,we have that warm and fuzzy
feeling when you give a giftand trying to recreate that and
how do we recreate that withour jobs with our services and
their smiles on people's faces.
(12:19):
Um, we call this last election,when you work on the with the
elections, they're stressed,they're trying to get things
done, they're trying to dotheir jobs and when they say,
hey, our buildings, we fixedthe leak or we able to get that
elections box open or we would
to help support apolling station.
And you see that gratitude inpeople's eyes and you know that
they're doing their service,you get that warm feeling or
(12:40):
it's responding to a trafficsignal outage and the lights
are blinking and people arestressed and you see, see
social media blowing up saying,hey, what's going on out here
and it might not bea safe condition.
Then you see a social mediapost that says all clear, all
good, traffic'sback and flowing.
There's some a certain feelingyou get or when you, when you
meet a resident, and they say,I can't believe you were out
(13:02):
there that night andclearing that street.
And we were able to get to thestore or we were able to go to
our holiday party, there's acertain gratitude you feel or
from my perspective nowas you start working in
administration, there's all thegovernment, we use that term
bureaucracy and, and what seemsinefficient and somebody's got
to cut through that and theseare opportunities that I look
(13:24):
forward to with my leadershipteam to say, hey, this is our
role is to put in the context,to figure out what's going on,
cut through some of thatbureaucracy, make a decision.
And hopefully make atangible difference.
Well, and it's all aboutimproving the quality of life
for folks in Contra CostaCounty, and I think that's the
mission of the county and theways that it, it plays out for
the public works department.
(13:47):
Um, sometimes inconveniences,folks, you know, you have your
roads project, you're gonnaput your cones out there, but
ultimately it's rooted insafety and, you know, making
sure that you're safe gettingto your final, you know,
destination, making sure thatyou, um, your car is OK, so
you're not hitting potholesbecause that's an investment
for you as well.
(14:08):
So I certainlyunderstand that, um.
What keeps you coming back?
You said 26 yearswith public works.
You worked your way up frombeing a traffic engineer.
So like, you know, what is itabout Contra Cross County in
the public works department?
I definitely feel like it's thepeople, the relationships that
you build, and I think you lookat it as a large team and you
need everybody in yourteam to to make it work.
(14:30):
And one of the things one ofthe ex-public works directors
shared with me is public works,we're like the like offensive
line on a on a football team.
When everything's goingwell, no one notices.
Well, when somethinghappens, they blame you.
And so I don't lookat that as a negative.
Um, I think the folks I workwith, I think they have that
behind the scenes attitude.
(14:52):
They want to contribute.
They don't need to be in the,in the limelight per se, um.
And I think there's somethingabout that service and that
camaraderie, and that atthe end of the day that we
accomplished something.
So I think about the team, Ithink about the folks that I
work with.
I do think about the serviceswe do provide and you realize,
um, when you build thoseservices to build that
(15:13):
infrastructure, people areusing that and it's a sense of
place where other services are
being provided likea park for example.
It's great that we build parksand maintain parks, but what's
even better is all the funactivities that you see at the
parks where there's birthdayparties where there are events
and a lot of those interactionsreally build the community.
Um, you know, Imean, that's great.
(15:33):
I think another really goodexample of that is the Plaza,
the new Plaza in theDowntown Martinez for the new
administration building, uh, B.
Um, there's a lot ofwork that went into that.
Um, what was the role forpublic works in that, we
definitely supported the countyminister's office in delivering
that project.
Um, it was a design buildproject led by, um, the county
administrator, um, but buildingthat project takes a team
(15:55):
again, countless individualsand our capital projects
management team,our facilities team.
In our real estate team interms of negotiating the
property rights as well asour now our custodial team and
maintaining it and so againwhen you look at uh when you
look at infrastructure, it'snot just what's happening
there, it's how many handstouch that and in this case,
(16:15):
hundreds of folksworked on that project.
Um, Kelly, as the, as thecommunicator, is one of the
communicators, uh, for thedepartment, um, how do you
connect with people?
What platform and tools shouldfolks monitor, uh, to make sure
they're up to date?
Um, well, thank youfor asking, Christie.
(16:35):
We are, um, currently onFacebook, Instagram, and X, and
our handle is a CCC PublicWorks, and we also have a TV
show called Inside PublicWorks that we produce.
And I'm lucky enough to hostthat we get to talk about the
programs, projects and serviceswe offer and also give people a
chance to find out how theseprojects came about, how they
(16:55):
impact their quality of life,and it gives us a chance to
shine a spotlight on the peoplethat we work with as Warren
mentioned, there's a lot ofpassion behind what we do and
um that's why I'm so.
You know, honored and tobe able to represent the 18
divisions that we do, it's,it's so diversified and a lot
(17:15):
of times when I speak to peopleand I say, you know, I want to
talk about this and they're
like, I don't whyI'm not important.
What I do isn't a big thing andit's like it is and it's nice
to be able to talk to thecommunity and find out how.
How the projects that wedeliver to them do improve the
quality of their life andalso to be able to give them a
background of that your voicedoes matter, you know, how do
(17:37):
these things come about usuallysomeone again reaches out to us
I have a question or a concernand that could be the seed that
germinates a project thatcomes out down the line so um.
It's, it's great.
It's on, um, I hope you checkit out Inside Public Works.
It's on YouTube and we producedthat with the wonderful people
at Contra Costa Television andit's kind of a labor of love
(17:57):
Once again it's just lettingpeople know about what we do
for us.
who we are and how we impactthe quality of their lives and.
And we really look forwardto showing that it's been
gratifying for us because notonly do we hear about some
community members, but somestaff members because we're in
18 different divisions, becausewe're all concentrating on what
(18:17):
we're doing, finding out abouttheir fellow staff members and
all the things that we do
because we are sodiversified, so.
It's, it's a wonderful tool.
Um, again, any of our socialmedia handles, you can find
those, um, you also go to ourwebsite, CCCpublicworks.org.
And you have access to allof our, you know, our inside
(18:39):
public works, all of ourprograms, projects, services,
social media, so everything's
in 11 place for you right there.
So I, I mean truly the thecommunication behind it and I
might be biased, but thecommunication behind the work
that's done at public worksalso might be the only
opportunity someone has to hearmore about what's happening.
(18:59):
Um, at public works and sothere's really a value there,
um, that also helps show, Ithink kind of the, the benefits
or you know, the, the, thestewardship behind the use of
taxpayer dollars.
I mean, these, there's a lot ofwork and information that that
goes into the decision makingwar at your level, and then
when you're communicating withthe county administrator and
(19:22):
the and the board, um, tobe able to highlight those
projects and prioritize and
make sure you'reusing funding, um.
Beyond that, you know, if we'vecovered a lot, uh, if there's
one takeaway from ourdiscussion, what would you want
people to remember the most?
I do think that public worksis all about the people and the
(19:42):
services we provide and so Ilike folks to know that when
you see your infrastructure oryou see someone responding to
something, there's a personbehind it and they're dedicated
and they care about it and the
work that they do is meaningful.
Kelly, what about for you?
Yeah, like I said, we're just,we're just proud to serve the
people of Contra Costa County,and, um, Public Works is very
(20:03):
passionate about what we do.
And once again, if you seeanything that's amiss in your
area, don't hesitate to reachout to us because that's
important for us to bethere for you and to let.
We know that we are there torespond to anything that you
have any questions, any
concerns, we lovehearing from you,
even if it's somethingthat's bad happening in your
(20:23):
neighborhood or even if it'ssomething that's good happening
in your neighborhood, we'realways here and we always want
to hear from you and we wantto improve the quality of life.
Well, great.
Well, um, that's itfor today's show.
I'm your host Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer.
Thanks for joining us onGovernment Speak brought to you
by the Office of Communicationsand Media, but don't just take
our word for it, stay curious,
(20:45):
stay connected,and stay informed.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
Welcome to government Speak.
This is where we'll cut throughthe government speak to get the
information you need aboutcounty programs, services, and
events straight from the source.
Welcome to Government Speak,
Contra Costa County'sofficial podcast.
I'm your host, Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer, and onthis episode we have Public
works director Warren Lai andpublic information officer
(00:22):
Kelly Kavsbeck joining usin studio at 10 Douglas.
Warren, Kelly, welcometo the podcast.
Thank you, Christie.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Um, so doesn't the name of thedepartment doesn't sound very
intuitive, but whatdoes public works do?
What are the areas offocus for your team?
Right on, right on.
No, Public Worksdoes soup to nuts.
It does everything.
(00:44):
Um, so there's twoparts of public works.
There's obviouslythe outward side.
It's roads, bridges, ormaintain traffic signals.
We're out there maintainingstop signs or trimming trees or
keeping the travelingpublic safe.
And then we have the internalside which is supporting other
county departments.
So we obviously have a hospitalthat we uh maintain, um, we
(01:04):
maintain thedetention facilities.
We're out supporting differentdepartments, the elections,
making sure that their officesare up and running, we're
supporting them in theirservices they provide.
So you could be out in thefield doing roadwork one
moment, and the next momentworking in a county facility to
make sure that it's, you know,
(01:25):
up and running andworkable for folks.
Exactly. We have over 500 staffthat are doing this, so it's
maintenance workers, it'scarpenters, it's plumbers, it's
HVHC technicians, there'sengineers, there's planners.
We have them all.
So how many miles of roads doyou maintain, bridges, all that
sort of thing?
Over 660 miles.
(01:45):
So unincorporated county allthe way out in the east to
Bethel Island, all the way westto El Cerrito, Richmond, as far
south as San Ramon.
So you're really, I mean,you're covering everything, and
you also have the twoairports too, right?
You've got and Byron.
It's really excitingtimes for us actually.
We have two airports like youmentioned, um, Byron Airport,
um, home of Jet.
(02:08):
Was it uh Patriot, yeah, thePatriot team which uh helped
out in Top Gun.
And then we have Buchanan FieldAirport, uh, recently newly
constructed terminal building,so a lot of exciting stuff.
Um, And we'll kind of go intostorm season a little bit too,
which is fitting because Iknow it's raining pretty hard
outside just so happens today,but, um, so storm season, a lot
(02:28):
of messaging comes out of yourdepartment for, you know, storm
preparedness, storm safety.
How does the departmentprepare for bad weather?
I know we're not just sittingaround waiting for it.
We're actually planning aheadfor it, no, no, and storm
preparedness happensyear round, so.
You know, in the fall, our
maintenance crews are out there.
They're, they're inspectingall our facilities, they're
clearing out drains, they'reclearing out ditches.
(02:50):
They're getting ready for thestorms, we're prepositioning,
um, assets such assandbag stations.
We're getting the word out,um, letting folks know.
Hey, it's gotta be apartnership and so what can you
do in your community?
And so I think what's umimportant is community
preparedness and as a resident,you know, you go and clean out
your gutters and you can do thesame for your own home and your
(03:12):
community, um, takea, take an assessment.
Look at where, where watertypically ponds or floods,
clear out, um, your drains, um,
look for stormdrains in your area.
Um, I would avoidparking over them.
That tends to be an issue, um,especially in the fall when we
have lots of leaves, so theyclog the drains and a lot of
(03:32):
our crews for that first storm,it's usually going out, beating
the residents, um, clearing outdrains, um, and we also do want
to mention, um, our sandbagstations, we have 6 sandbag
stations locatedthroughout the county.
And I know we really pushedthat, um, messaging out, Kelly,
as the public informationofficer, you're putting that
messaging out aroundthe sandbag stations.
(03:53):
Do you have any statsfor us about, you know.
Amount of bags, amountof sand, all of that.
And in a typical year, we, weput out about 4000 sandbags a
year, um, in oursandbag station.
So when you go out there, um,
that's a lot of tonnage of sand.
And so when you're talkingabout going out there, um,
there's self-servicesandbags, right?
So what does that mean?
(04:14):
Um, so residents or community
members can go toeach sandbag station.
There there'll be a pile ofsand, uh, their sandbags, um,
residents are asked to bringtheir own shovel, um, and fill
up your own sandbag.
We also encourage them to bringsomeone with them because it's
a lot easier to uh fill thesandbags and to transport them,
obviously, if you havesomeone else there with you.
(04:34):
OK, so it's really, um, theresources available, but you
need some assistance,um, to do that.
You need to, that's kind ofthe community preparedness, you
know, perspective thatyou're talking about.
When you're talking aboutcleaning out the drains, why is
that important or lookingat your, your property?
I mean, what does it matterif my neighbor doesn't do that
work on his or herproperty, but I'm doing it?
(04:56):
What are, what's theimpact potentially?
So the first important part isobviously we don't want your
neighbors to flood, so we'regonna talk about flooding,
don't flood your neighbors tooit's obviously those drains
they back up so I wanna makesure we talk about that.
I would say situationalsituational awareness is is
being not only aware of what'shappening on your property but
(05:16):
what's happening nearby yourproperty so your roadside
ditches, your culverts, your umstorm drains, even the side of
your driveways, there's a lotof things that people just need
to be aware of and if you seethat there's a storm drain on
That maybe is not rightin front of your house but
your street.
adjacent to your house andthat's plugged that could end
up flooding your neighborhoodand flooding your property.
(05:36):
So once again it's just thesituational awareness is
walking your neighborhood,
being aware of what'shappening there.
We really encourage peopleto go to our website
CCCPublicworks.org and we'vegot a lot of great flood
forecasting tools.
We've got um flood maps, soknow what your flood risk is in
your particular area.
(05:57):
Um, if you've been prone toflooding before, again, we want
you to be proactive, but, um,again, it's like if, if you're
downhill from somebody oryou're near a drain that's
that's plugged up, it could endup affecting your property and
So we want to make sure thatyou just stay aware of that.
your neighborhood.
So community preparednessis really about the whole
community and making sure that,you know, we acknowledge these
(06:17):
systems are connected and sothe behaviors that we have on
our property could actuallyimpact something else down the
road, right?
Absolutely. And that's why wealso suggest to people, if you
see something, saysomething to us.
If you see some drainage maybein your neighborhood that it
looks like it's starting toback up, you know, reach out to
us and notify us, requestservices, report a service
(06:38):
issue to us so we canlook into that problem.
Well, let's talk about that.
So you have a lot of differentresources and tools to provide
information to folks, um,before a storm happens and then
while you know there's astorm actually occurring.
What are some of the waysthat people can report?
We've got a lot of great toolsand resources available for our
customers to report.
(06:59):
Service issues um or you knowrequest services from us we
have our mobile citizen appwhich is free for download.
We also have our customerportal which is web based and
allows people to requestservices or report service
issues either anonymously or becreating an account or they can
call us at 925-313-7000.
That's our maintenancedivision, but all these
(07:21):
resources are available on our
website which isCCCPublicworks.org.
And um no matter how youcontact us, we just appreciate
you being once again proactiveand reaching out and letting us
know when you see something sowe can address the issue before
it becomes a problem.
And that just automaticallyassuming that you're aware of
it already.
(07:42):
Um, I know you know there aresome folks who might just make
that assumption so it's betterto get multiple reports on an
issue than it is tonot report it at all.
Absolutely. And if, if morethan one person reports it to
us, then we add that on to ourservice request so we let them
know that several peopleare concerned about it.
Also if you once again, ifyou want to be notified what's
happening as a result of therequest that you made, we can
notify you what actions that
(08:05):
we're taking and whatsteps are happening.
So it's really atrue partnership.
It's you're getting informationin, but you're also making sure
that people know that there'san action being taken, that
their feedback is being heard,that you're, you know, you're
addressing issues that need tobe addressed absolutely because
public safety is our priority.
So we want it again, as Warren
mentioned, we want itto be a partnership.
(08:25):
We want them to know that notonly are we being responsive to
the requests that they'remaking, but we also want to
give them the tools that they
can use to keep themselves safe.
And so.
Yeah, no, absolutely, uh,because I think that throughout
the years we're working on, youknow, storm preparedness, you
know, the county, wedo a pretty good job of
participating with the NationalFlood Insurance program and a
(08:45):
little bit about that throughFEMA is, is what types of
practices as an agency do we doto help encourage our community
and our folks to have betterflood management practices and
because we do certain thingslike have a floodplain
management ordinance andwe're doing outreach.
And we're informing folks wereceive a 20% discount for
flood insurance premiums forall unincorporated residents of
(09:06):
Contra Costa County.
So if you're out there, you'rein a special flood hazard area
and you need to get floodinsurance, you get 20% off your
premiums just by being an
unincorporatedContra Costa County.
And that's another example ofbeing a good stewardship, uh,
you know, with, withtaxpayer funded resources.
So, um, Warren, how long have
(09:27):
you worked for public works now?
Wow, it seems like uh.
Seems like a long time.
It's been 26 years.
I came, uh, started as anentry level engineer in 1998.
And you know, young Warrenaspire to become the director?
I mean, this is a relativelynew transition for you.
(09:47):
This is, um, you know, a couple
of years into themix now, right?
You're heading into.
I'm so it's, it's been a wild.
Gratifying. I think one thingas director, your first year,
realize how much support youreceived when you become a
department head, um, andthe support from the county
administrator's office, thesupport from my department
(10:09):
wanting me to be successful,to provide the services that we
have and to leadthis department.
So what are some of the umareas of focus for you and the
team as you head in,you know, to 2025?
What are some thingsthat you're focusing on?
I think I think a coupleof things internal.
Focus of mine is to talk aboutour department leadership and
the focus on people processand results and people is about
(10:33):
relationships and therelationships we have with one
another and the teams that webuild and process is about how
we do business.
Are we reaching out to othersor we're collaborating how we
make decisions and then theresults, which is the final
product, are we doing what wesee what we're doing and are we
doing meaningful work?
And I always kind of think.
Working on the rightthing at the right time?
(10:54):
And are we doing that, askingthat question constantly and
thinking, is this, is thismeaningful to the community?
Is it meaningful to each other?
And is that result,does it hit the mark?
Are there um
specific locations in thecounty that you're focusing on
with some of yourwork, or are there um.
Goals, you know, humanizingthe work I think is huge.
(11:15):
I know for, for thestorytellers of the county,
myself included, you know, Ireally want to acknowledge the
people behind the work becausethe public service doesn't
happen without the people to,
to put on theprograms and services.
So what does that mean for you?
You know, this last recentstorms that we're going through
right now, you start seeingpictures of your folks, our
maintenance crews out there.
(11:37):
They're unclogging a drainand you see that where they're
doing it, they're.
As a matter of fact, over theweekend, they were working over
at Contra Costa Center inPleasant Hill Bar, and yeah, it
could be a simple drain thatthey're that they're, excuse
me, that they're unclogging,but you realize there's traffic
There's people that are usingthose facilities, and there's
backed up.
somebody out there that'sdoing that work and it's very
(11:57):
gratifying because you do hear,wow, it got cleared, or you see
it on, on Nixel or you see iton the media, road is cleared
and there's a certain feelingyou get, and I almost equate it
to that.
As we're in the holidays,we have that warm and fuzzy
feeling when you give a giftand trying to recreate that and
how do we recreate that withour jobs with our services and
their smiles on people's faces.
(12:19):
Um, we call this last election,when you work on the with the
elections, they're stressed,they're trying to get things
done, they're trying to dotheir jobs and when they say,
hey, our buildings, we fixedthe leak or we able to get that
elections box open or we would
to help support apolling station.
And you see that gratitude inpeople's eyes and you know that
they're doing their service,you get that warm feeling or
(12:40):
it's responding to a trafficsignal outage and the lights
are blinking and people arestressed and you see, see
social media blowing up saying,hey, what's going on out here
and it might not bea safe condition.
Then you see a social mediapost that says all clear, all
good, traffic'sback and flowing.
There's some a certain feelingyou get or when you, when you
meet a resident, and they say,I can't believe you were out
(13:02):
there that night andclearing that street.
And we were able to get to thestore or we were able to go to
our holiday party, there's acertain gratitude you feel or
from my perspective nowas you start working in
administration, there's all thegovernment, we use that term
bureaucracy and, and what seemsinefficient and somebody's got
to cut through that and theseare opportunities that I look
(13:24):
forward to with my leadershipteam to say, hey, this is our
role is to put in the context,to figure out what's going on,
cut through some of thatbureaucracy, make a decision.
And hopefully make atangible difference.
Well, and it's all aboutimproving the quality of life
for folks in Contra CostaCounty, and I think that's the
mission of the county and theways that it, it plays out for
the public works department.
(13:47):
Um, sometimes inconveniences,folks, you know, you have your
roads project, you're gonnaput your cones out there, but
ultimately it's rooted insafety and, you know, making
sure that you're safe gettingto your final, you know,
destination, making sure thatyou, um, your car is OK, so
you're not hitting potholesbecause that's an investment
for you as well.
(14:08):
So I certainlyunderstand that, um.
What keeps you coming back?
You said 26 yearswith public works.
You worked your way up frombeing a traffic engineer.
So like, you know, what is itabout Contra Cross County in
the public works department?
I definitely feel like it's thepeople, the relationships that
you build, and I think you lookat it as a large team and you
need everybody in yourteam to to make it work.
(14:30):
And one of the things one ofthe ex-public works directors
shared with me is public works,we're like the like offensive
line on a on a football team.
When everything's goingwell, no one notices.
Well, when somethinghappens, they blame you.
And so I don't lookat that as a negative.
Um, I think the folks I workwith, I think they have that
behind the scenes attitude.
(14:52):
They want to contribute.
They don't need to be in the,in the limelight per se, um.
And I think there's somethingabout that service and that
camaraderie, and that atthe end of the day that we
accomplished something.
So I think about the team, Ithink about the folks that I
work with.
I do think about the serviceswe do provide and you realize,
um, when you build thoseservices to build that
(15:13):
infrastructure, people areusing that and it's a sense of
place where other services are
being provided likea park for example.
It's great that we build parksand maintain parks, but what's
even better is all the funactivities that you see at the
parks where there's birthdayparties where there are events
and a lot of those interactionsreally build the community.
Um, you know, Imean, that's great.
(15:33):
I think another really goodexample of that is the Plaza,
the new Plaza in theDowntown Martinez for the new
administration building, uh, B.
Um, there's a lot ofwork that went into that.
Um, what was the role forpublic works in that, we
definitely supported the countyminister's office in delivering
that project.
Um, it was a design buildproject led by, um, the county
administrator, um, but buildingthat project takes a team
(15:55):
again, countless individualsand our capital projects
management team,our facilities team.
In our real estate team interms of negotiating the
property rights as well asour now our custodial team and
maintaining it and so againwhen you look at uh when you
look at infrastructure, it'snot just what's happening
there, it's how many handstouch that and in this case,
(16:15):
hundreds of folksworked on that project.
Um, Kelly, as the, as thecommunicator, is one of the
communicators, uh, for thedepartment, um, how do you
connect with people?
What platform and tools shouldfolks monitor, uh, to make sure
they're up to date?
Um, well, thank youfor asking, Christie.
(16:35):
We are, um, currently onFacebook, Instagram, and X, and
our handle is a CCC PublicWorks, and we also have a TV
show called Inside PublicWorks that we produce.
And I'm lucky enough to hostthat we get to talk about the
programs, projects and serviceswe offer and also give people a
chance to find out how theseprojects came about, how they
(16:55):
impact their quality of life,and it gives us a chance to
shine a spotlight on the peoplethat we work with as Warren
mentioned, there's a lot ofpassion behind what we do and
um that's why I'm so.
You know, honored and tobe able to represent the 18
divisions that we do, it's,it's so diversified and a lot
(17:15):
of times when I speak to peopleand I say, you know, I want to
talk about this and they're
like, I don't whyI'm not important.
What I do isn't a big thing andit's like it is and it's nice
to be able to talk to thecommunity and find out how.
How the projects that wedeliver to them do improve the
quality of their life andalso to be able to give them a
background of that your voicedoes matter, you know, how do
(17:37):
these things come about usuallysomeone again reaches out to us
I have a question or a concernand that could be the seed that
germinates a project thatcomes out down the line so um.
It's, it's great.
It's on, um, I hope you checkit out Inside Public Works.
It's on YouTube and we producedthat with the wonderful people
at Contra Costa Television andit's kind of a labor of love
(17:57):
Once again it's just lettingpeople know about what we do
for us.
who we are and how we impactthe quality of their lives and.
And we really look forwardto showing that it's been
gratifying for us because notonly do we hear about some
community members, but somestaff members because we're in
18 different divisions, becausewe're all concentrating on what
(18:17):
we're doing, finding out abouttheir fellow staff members and
all the things that we do
because we are sodiversified, so.
It's, it's a wonderful tool.
Um, again, any of our socialmedia handles, you can find
those, um, you also go to ourwebsite, CCCpublicworks.org.
And you have access to allof our, you know, our inside
(18:39):
public works, all of ourprograms, projects, services,
social media, so everything's
in 11 place for you right there.
So I, I mean truly the thecommunication behind it and I
might be biased, but thecommunication behind the work
that's done at public worksalso might be the only
opportunity someone has to hearmore about what's happening.
(18:59):
Um, at public works and sothere's really a value there,
um, that also helps show, Ithink kind of the, the benefits
or you know, the, the, thestewardship behind the use of
taxpayer dollars.
I mean, these, there's a lot ofwork and information that that
goes into the decision makingwar at your level, and then
when you're communicating withthe county administrator and
(19:22):
the and the board, um, tobe able to highlight those
projects and prioritize and
make sure you'reusing funding, um.
Beyond that, you know, if we'vecovered a lot, uh, if there's
one takeaway from ourdiscussion, what would you want
people to remember the most?
I do think that public worksis all about the people and the
(19:42):
services we provide and so Ilike folks to know that when
you see your infrastructure oryou see someone responding to
something, there's a personbehind it and they're dedicated
and they care about it and the
work that they do is meaningful.
Kelly, what about for you?
Yeah, like I said, we're just,we're just proud to serve the
people of Contra Costa County,and, um, Public Works is very
(20:03):
passionate about what we do.
And once again, if you seeanything that's amiss in your
area, don't hesitate to reachout to us because that's
important for us to bethere for you and to let.
We know that we are there torespond to anything that you
have any questions, any
concerns, we lovehearing from you,
even if it's somethingthat's bad happening in your
(20:23):
neighborhood or even if it'ssomething that's good happening
in your neighborhood, we'realways here and we always want
to hear from you and we wantto improve the quality of life.
Well, great.
Well, um, that's itfor today's show.
I'm your host Christy Jordan,Contra Costa County's public
information officer.
Thanks for joining us onGovernment Speak brought to you
by the Office of Communicationsand Media, but don't just take
our word for it, stay curious,
(20:45):
stay connected,and stay informed.
Until next time, keep your mindopen and your facts straight.
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