Tribune News Service — San Antonio City Manager Erik Walsh is splitting the Public Works Department in two, a move he said could speed up construction projects.
The new Capital Delivery Department will focus on new, large-scale projects such as the construction of streets, drainage, parks and city facilities. Public Works will maintain existing infrastructure with a focus on streets, sidewalks, drainage and traffic systems.
Mike Shannon, current head of Development Services, will head up the new Capital Delivery Department. Shannon’s title change is effective today, but the 188 employees he will oversee won’t move out from Public Works and under his purview until Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year. Public Works will retain 698 employees.
“This department’s sole focus will be on delivering, communicating, managing, executing and completing capital projects,” Walsh told council members Thursday morning. “These individuals will wake up in the morning and go to bed focused on this effort.”
The Capital Delivery Department will lead planning for future bond programs, which will start running on a four-year schedule instead of the current five-year timeline.
Amin Tohmaz, deputy director of Development Services, will take the reins from Shannon.
The changes are outlined in the city’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026 budget, which will go into effect Oct. 1 pending City Council approval next month.
City Council members, small business owners and residents have long criticized the Public Works Department for moving too slowly on major street projects and for a lack of communication throughout the process, especially when the scope of projects are changed, resulting in delays.
The city’s innovation and budget offices conducted comprehensive reviews of a handful of departments, including Public Works, to find ways to ease impending budget deficits.
The reviews revealed communication problems within the department — even though residents and businesses plagued by delayed street projects have been vocal about not getting enough timely information from Public Works.
The city hired an outside consultant to assess how construction projects are managed beyond what the internal review found. The consultant recommended San Antonio split Public Works in two. Walsh decided to move ahead, in part, after seeing the city of Austin divide a department that runs its construction projects 18 months ago.
The change is expected, Walsh said, to improve coordination with utility companies and overall efficiency.
Walsh said he doesn’t think the reorganization will create two departments doing the same kinds of project.
“I think having those two very different functions under one leadership branch probably put us in a position where we weren’t being as efficient on either one,” he told reporters Wednesday. “When you’re doing a little bit of everything, you’re probably not doing all of something.”
This is the second major Public Works revamp that Walsh has overseen since taking the helm in 2019.
Walsh created today’s Public Works department in 2020 by splitting what was then the Transportation and Capital Improvements Department: one department that focuses solely on transportation planning, and Public Works, which deals with construction and maintenance of streets, drainage, libraries and parks.
Razi Hosseini, who has worked for San Antonio since 1991, has led Public Works since Walsh created it five years ago.
Hosseini, an engineer with more than four decades of experience, will retire on Sept. 30. Walsh plans to bring in his replacement by mid-September.
The city is offering a salary range of $174,292 to $278,867 for Hosseini’s successor, according to a city job posting.
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