The reorganization of the former East Baton Rouge Parish Department of Public Works into six independent departments is nearly complete, and the leadership of each department should be in place by the end of this month.
Consultant Christel Slaughter, whose firm SSA Consultants has been helping the city with the reorganization, says the directors selected to head the six departments are top-flight administrators from around the country with experience in the public and private sectors.
“We got rock stars,” Slaughter says. “We couldn’t believe the caliber of resumes that came in for these positions. We couldn’t be more thrilled.”
The six department heads are:
- Chris Burnett, a senior manufacturing operations manager for Starbucks Coffee Co., will oversee maintenance.
- Steve Bonnette, a senior vice president with San Antonio-based Pape-Dawson Engineers, will be in charge of transportation and drainage
- Stephanie Rivers, a U.S. Army officer with experience in operations, maintenance and intelligence, will head up buildings and grounds.
- Karen Khonsari, a Baton Rouge-based environmental engineer, will oversee environmental services.
- David Childress, a maintenance and operations director with 20 years experience in the trucking and utilities industries, will be in charge of the fleet.
- Carey Chauvin, assistant DPW director of maintenance, will head up development. Chauvin, he only former DPW employee to lead one of the new departments, will also serve as interim assistant chief administrative officer for the city-parish.
Slaughter says the new leadership will be in place by late August, and by December the financial restructuring should be complete. The city-parish began restructuring the former DPW more than 18 months ago as a way to streamline services and improve efficiency.
—Stephanie Riegel
