Divisions

Public Works has more than 300 employees and is organized into seven divisions:

  • Administration & Finance
  • Clean Water
  • Engineering & Construction
  • Fleet Services
  • Parks & Lands
  • Road Maintenance & Safety
  • Transportation

These divisions work closely together and sometimes with other county departments and outside agencies to provide services and build projects for the public.

Managers for these seven divisions report to Public Works Director Ken Lader.

The following provides a brief description of each division's core work.

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Sherry Villafane, Division Manager, sherry.villafane@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.4103

Administration:

  • Supervises mail handling, digital imaging, motor pool, equipment checkout, supplies, and miscellaneous services.

Budget:

  • Develops, submits and manages Public Works’ budget, including monitoring.
  • Prepares supplemental and readoption submittals and writes reports.

Customer Service:

  • Supports the entire department through customer service at 78th Street Operations Center.
  • Provides additional customer service support through fourth-floor reception at Public Service Center.

Finance:

  • Oversees all financial matters, including accounting, financial reporting, payroll, accounts payable, accounts receivable and grants.

Technology:

  • Provides a range of support to enhance technology efficiencies.
  • Develops and implements technology plan to include architecture, hardware and software requirements.
  • Manages niche software applications and library.
  • Evaluates purchases, installs, debugs and interfaces with vendors and maintains accountability.
     

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Devan Rostorfer, Division Manager, devan.rostorfer@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.4262

Clean Water:

  • Ensures compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit.
  • Plans construction of stormwater facilities.
  • Prepares watershed plans.
  • Develops stormwater code and manual.
  • Inspects privately owned stormwater facilities.
  • Coordinates the Clark County Clean Water Commission.
  • Inspect and maintain County owned stormwater facilities.
  • Maintain and update the mapping of stormwater infrastructure.

Monitoring:

  • Monitors stormwater runoff and stream quality.
  • Collects scientific data about stormwater, surface waters, stream conditions and aquatic habitat to support and implement NPDES permit requirements.
  • Uses sound science and data to help shape county's policies and programs.

Outreach:

  • Coordinates with homeowner associations, school districts and other owners of private stormwater facilities to address maintenance and regulatory issues.
  • Works with local businesses on best management practices to prevent water pollution.
  • Prepares educational materials, develops stewardship opportunities and undertakes other outreach to promote healthier waterways.
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Josh Lipscomb, Division Manager, Josh.lipscomb@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.1626

Construction Management:

  • Administers construction contracts for county projects.
  • Inspects public and private improvements, including bridges and public stormwater facilities.
  • Provides suggestions during development of county projects and verifies project constructability.
  • Oversees bidding process and ensures contractors and proposals meet legal requirements.
  • Inspects projects throughout construction, authorizes payments to contractors, accepts completed projects and prepares record drawings.
  • Permits and inspects all utility work within county right of way.

Engineering and Design:

  • Performs engineering and design work to build and maintain county facilities, including roads, sidewalks, trails, drainage systems, stormwater facilities, parks and mitigation sites.
  • Designs improvements and prepares plans, specifications and estimates for county projects.
  • Supports the bidding, construction and final acceptance of projects.
  • Provides engineering support in response to emergencies and other requests.

Project Management:

  • Directs delivery of county projects, from inception to closeout.
  • Establishes project scope, schedule and budget.
  • Manages work planning, plan execution, progress monitoring, change and reporting performance.
  • Coordinates efforts on other types of projects.

Real Property Services:

  • Acquires property for county projects in accordance with legal requirements.
  • Works closely with property owners affected by projects, answers questions and addresses concerns.
  • Researches and responds to questions about right of way, property ownership, boundaries, easements and effects of future road projects.
  • Manages Public Works’ properties, assists other departments with property management and surpluses county-owned properties. 

Survey:

  • Provides land surveying services for county projects and other county needs.
  • Maintains survey monuments within county right of way along with vertical and horizontal control networks.
  • Reviews, indexes and stores recorded surveys, subdivisions (plats, short plats) and County Engineer's road records.
  • Records surveys, land corner records and affidavits of correction for surveys, fulfills all state-mandated requirements.
     

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Tyler Bennet, Division Manager, tyler.bennett@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.1637

Equipment shops:

  • Maintains and repairs all county-owned vehicles and equipment.
  • Performs maintenance and repairs for other agencies on contract basis.

Fleet:

  • Purchases and disposes of county vehicles and heavy equipment.
  • Operates fuel sites and monitors fuel consumption.
  • Oversees equipment parts section.
  • Develops rental rates, writes specifications for Fleet and other county departments.
  • Reviews work performed by county shops on vehicles and equipment.

Other:

  • Oversees county rock pits (Finn Hill, Maple, Livingston, English).

 

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Rocky Houston, Division Manager, rocky.houston@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.1676

Administration:

  • Manages all parks functions, including parks reservations and exclusive use permits.
  • Administers property acquisition and development, property rentals and leases, and parks capital repair and replacement.
  • Coordinates policies and code changes, park impact fees program, park concurrency and  acquisition and development grants.
  • Manages 78th Street Heritage Farm.
  • Supports Clark County Parks Advisory Board and other relevant Advisory groups.

Camp Bonneville:

  • Manages ongoing cleanup at 3,840-acre former U.S. Army base, including completed work on the central valley floor, as well as upcoming cleanup of the central impact target area and western slopes.
  • Directs other aspects of Camp Bonneville property management, including modest capital improvements to the site’s roads and bridges.
  • Oversees master planning for Camp Bonneville's reuse.

Campus Maintenance:

  • Maintains downtown campus landscapes and hardscapes, 78th Street Heritage Farm landscape and perimeter vegetation at county cell towers.

Chelatchie Prairie Railroad:

  • Oversees the operator of the county-owned 33-mile short line.
  • Plans infrastructure improvements and seeks grants to fund line improvements.
  • Works with the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad Company, the line’s operator.
  • Coordinates the Railroad Advisory Board.

Forestry:

  • Assists property owners with forest practices.
  • Provides technical assistance to the Assessor’s Office and residents in implementation of the Open Space and Designated Forest Lands taxation programs.
  • Provides sustainable forest management services for county forest lands, such as Camp Bonneville and Green Mountain.

Legacy Lands:

  • Purchases lands highly valued for habitat, scenic corridors, low-impact recreation and other qualities that enhance our local environment using funds from the Conservation Futures levy
  • Follows the Conservation Areas Acquisition Plan in managing the approximately 5,000 acres in the program.

Parks Operations and Maintenance:

  • Handles grounds and custodial maintenance for county parks and facilities, including Legacy Lands properties..

Noxious Weeds:

  • Manages state requirements to control and eradicate noxious weeds.
  • Performs weed control on county-owned lands.
  • Provides information and technical expertise to private landowners for controlling noxious weeds.
  • Coordinates the Clark County Noxious Weed Control Board.

Planning and Development Program:

  • Manages the planning and delivery of capital projects for the Parks and Lands division.
  • Manages the Capital Improvement Plan, PROS plan, Natural Areas plan, and other system plans related to Parks and Lands
     
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Josh Lipscomb, Division Manager, Josh.lipscomb@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.1626

Asphalt/Guardrails:

  • Oversees asphalt work (patching, prelevels and crack filling).
  • Maintains and repairs guardrails.

Median Maintenance:

  • Maintains medians and roadside landscapes, rain gardens and 78th Street Operations Center landscape.

Road Maintenance:

  • Maintains roads in unincorporated Clark County.
  • Patches potholes, grades gravel roads and clears ditches, catch basins and culverts.
  • Maintains public sidewalks.
  • Plows roads during winter storms, applies sand and anti-icer and provides other storm response.
  • Mows roadsides, removes debris, cuts brush and performs other vegetation control.

Safety/Emergency Management: 

  • Manages Whatley Pit decant facility (recycling stormwater residue and street sweepings).
  • Administers department safety programs and various facility projects.
  • Manages Public Works Emergency Response Program and coordinates with Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency and Clark County's Emergency Coordinator.

Stormwater:

  • Sweeps neighborhood and arterial streets.
  • Maintains drainage systems, including cleaning and repairing catch basins, manholes, drywells and storm pipes.
  • Maintains public stormwater treatment facilities, including mowing and repairing  ponds, swales and  filter vaults.
  • Monitors compliance with legal requirements.
  • Manages small construction projects, including facility retrofits and improvements to drainage infrastructure.
     

 

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Steve Gallup, Division Manager, steve.gallop@clark.wa.gov, 564.397.4356

Concurrency:

  • Reviews and evaluates off-site transportation impacts of proposed developments.
  • Administers county's traffic impact fee program and developer agreements.

Preservation:

  • Manages pavement preservation, bridge, culverts and slides programs.
  • Assesses and tracks condition of pavements and other assets.
  • Provides objective analysis for prioritizing repairs, rehabilitation, replacement and preservation of assets.

Programming:

  • Develops Six-Year Transportation Improvement Program.
  • Applies for and administers project grants and loans.
  • Provides capital programming for clean water and Greater Clark Parks District projects. 

Signal Engineering/Operations:

  • Oversees traffic signals, railroad crossings, school flashers and intelligent transportation systems.
  • Provides first point of contact for resident requests regarding traffic signal operations and requests for enhanced crosswalks and school flashers.
  • Designs or approves developer designs for new traffic signals or modifications to existing signals.
  • Determines appropriate timing parameters for traffic signals and performs other day-to-day work to keep signals operating.

Traffic Engineering/Operations: 

  • Manages roadway system in unincorporated Clark County.
  • Provides first point of contact for resident requests regarding signing, striping, speed limits, parking, guardrails, bicycles facilities, pedestrian walkways and safety issues.
  • Prioritizes and recommends safety improvements for funding and construction