County names new director of public works

Marin County has hired a new director for the Department of Public Works.

Rosemarie Gaglione, the first woman to hold the position, will start on March 26. Her starting annual salary will be $236,038, the same as that of former director Raul Rojas when he retired in December.

Gaglione was hired away from Oxnard, where she had been director of public works since 2018. Before that, she was public works director in Goleta for nearly four years.

Gaglione said she was the first woman to be public works director in those cities as well.

“Many, many years ago when I was in my 20s, the world was very different, and women had to work a lot harder to prove themselves,” she said. “I think it is a lot different today. At my last two jobs where I was public works director, I don’t feel it was an issue at all.”

Gaglione graduated from California Polytechnic State University in 1997 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering. She said her interest in engineering was sparked by her father.

“My father was the superintendent of a wastewater treatment plant in Burbank,” she said. “Before that, he was in water treatment, so I was very interested in water and wastewater and also hazardous materials and chemicals and how they impacted people’s health and the natural environment.”

In the Marin position, Gaglione will oversee approximately 250 employees and an annual budget of $64 million. In Oxnard, she managed a staff of 498 full-time equivalent positions and an annual budget of $323 million in addition to a $1 billion, five-year capital improvement program.

“Rosemarie clearly stood out among a very talented pool of candidates,” said Marin County Administrator Matthew Hymel. “We feel fortunate to have someone of her skills and abilities to lead and continually improve the important work the department provides to our residents.”

Gaglione said one of the things that made working in Marin attractive is the county’s commitment to equity, both in the community and internally.

“The emphasis on equity was an important factor for me,” she said. “As part of the hiring process, I watched several Board of Supervisors meetings and read multiple documents online, and I loved how the employees are gracious with each other. There seemed to be an emphasis on making sure everybody feels safe at work; you can’t do your best work if you don’t feel safe and feel valued.”

“In terms of community,” Gaglione said, “I like to see equity written right into stra

tegic plans and when projects are built. You invest in what you respect, so by the county saying it is taking equity into account, it is a way of saying to the marginalized population that we value you and respect you. From a humanistic point of view, it all meshed for me.”

In 2020, two Latino civil engineers in the Marin County Department of Public Works filed a discrimination suit against the county, alleging “systemic” prejudice against women and minorities.

Berenice Davidson, who is Mexican American, and Edgar Garcia, who is of Nicaraguan descent, alleged that “entrenched senior management” subjected them to “verbal harassment, failure to promote and retaliation for complaining.”

Several of the incidents cited in the suit preceded Rojas’ hiring. Rojas was the department’s director for six and a half years after a 20-year career in Bakersfield.

The case is still pending and no trial date has been set, Marin County Counsel Brian Washington said Thursday.

Responding to the news of Gaglione’s hiring, Davidson said, “It is great that the county is providing opportunities to talented candidates from all walks of life. She seems extremely qualified. It’s sort of a glass ceiling that has been broken.”

Gaglione said she and her wife will live in Marinwood for the next year while they decide where to buy a house.

“We’re already looking at different bike rides we can take all over the county,” she said.