2001 APWA SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER PUBLIC LEADER OF THE YEAR
STEPHEN H. WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS
CITY OF PALMDALE
APWA High Desert
Branch Founder and President, Stephen H. Williams, Director of Public Works for
the City of Palmdale has been selected as the Top Public Sector Leader of the
Southern California Chapter of the American Public Works Association. The Chapter represents 1,100 members within
a four-county area including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino
counties. The intent of the award is to
recognize outstanding career service accomplishments of public works
professionals and officials. Williams
was honored at the Southern California Chapter awards ceremony on December 6 in
Lakewood.
Williams
was hired by the City of Palmdale in 1987 as its first director of public
works. Since joining Palmdale, the
population of the city has grown from about 33,000 to about 130,000. Census records indicate Palmdale was the
fastest growing city in the State of California and the 12th fastest
growing city in the Nation during the last decade. This dramatic growth required major investments in public
infrastructure. During Williams’
tenure, the City completed $300 million in capital improvements including eight
parks, four park-and-ride facilities, 50 traffic signals, a community arts
center, the first library in California built exclusively for youth, a new City
Hall building, a County operated courthouse, the Amargosa Dam & Spillway
and numerous drainage, traffic, street, bridge, transit amenity and trails
projects.
Williams
manages the largest City department in Palmdale with 140 employees. His major accomplishments since joining the
City include: developing master plans
for Traffic, Flood Control, Sewer, Street and Waste Management systems;
establishing the City’s first public works central maintenance facility after
transferring street and traffic maintenance and operations from the County;
chairing the Antelope Valley Water Group, a committee of many local agencies
with an interest in water availability in the Antelope Valley; administering
re-votes on over 180 individual landscape assessment districts with a 95%
success rate; and establishing a dedicated project management program that has
been honored in the past nine years with twelve awards for various city
projects.
Williams established the High Desert Branch of
the American Public Works Association with a current membership of over 60
members and is currently serving as its President. He holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from the
University of Arizona and a Masters degree in public administration from
California State University, Northridge.