Town Selects New Public Works Director

After a months-long recruitment and interview process, the Town of Vienna has appointed Dennis Johnson as the town's new Public Works Director.

Johnson, 64, has been an engineer with the town since February 2008, and had served as acting director of the department since former director Holly Chu resigned in April. 

He assumes official duties of director today, with a starting salary of $129,564.

In the new position, Johnson will oversee the town's largest department, responsible for street maintenance, water and sewer maintenance, trash collection, recycling, snow removal and leaf pickup, among other services. He'll manage a budget of $12 million as well as 75 employees.

Town Manager Mercury Payton introduced a new recruitment and hiring process to fill the position, one that involved all 75 current public works employees, a regional public works expert and a panel of town directors. 

The town selected six of the 54 applicants for the position for the first round of interviews. Each candidate went through a question and answer session with all 75 department employees, who scored the candidate. Afterward, a panel interviewed candidates on management philosophy and technical skills. The pool was narrowed down to three candidates, who went through follow-up interviews and extensive background checks. 

“In order to make a hiring decision, especially one involving the leadership of this organization, it is necessary that we gather as much information as possible on each candidate.  This process allowed us to do just that,” Town Manager Mercury Payton said in a statement. “The more people involved in a high level recruitment process, the more critical thought that will go into the decision making process and allow for a multi-dimensional understanding of each candidate. This process gave us the opportunity to see how the candidates interacted with front line staff, test their technical knowledge, as well as determine if their management style is in line with the town’s vision.”

Johnson was chosen from the final pool of candidates. 

“This was a competitive process within a highly competitive field and while this was an extremely difficult decision, it became clear to me that Dennis’ combination of experience, knowledge of the challenges that this department faces, and his commitment to the overall vision of the town was the right fit for this position,” Payton said.

Johnson, a licensed professional engineer, earned a degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and a Master Of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He has long served the area as an engineer, spending 34 years with Arlington County – some of them in a teaching capacity with the American Public Works Association and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – before retiring as the chief of the engineering division in 2004.

He worked as a project manager with VMS, Inc. for the DC Streets program on the Washington D.C. National Highway System before coming to the town as a public engineer in 2008. He's also participated in the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.