{"id":175,"date":"2012-12-05T10:51:24","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T18:51:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/?p=175"},"modified":"2013-03-12T13:51:43","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T20:51:43","slug":"debbie-cook-named-director-of-utilties-and-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/debbie-cook-named-director-of-utilties-and-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"Debbie Cook Named Director of Utilties and Engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contact:<\/strong> City Manager Tony O’Rourke \u2013 575-6040
\nCommunity Relations Manager Randy Beehler \u2013 901-1142 \u2013 randy.beehler@yakimawa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Yakima City Manager Tony O\u2019Rourke has selected Debbie Cook to become the City\u2019s new Director of Utilities and Engineering.\u00a0 Cook, who is currently the Development Services Engineering Manager for the City of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, expects to be on the job in Yakima in late January.<\/p>\n

Cook will join the City of Yakima after having spent more than 26 years working for both public sector employers and for private engineering companies.\u00a0 Cook has spent most of her career in Washington State.<\/p>\n

\u201cDebbie brings a very strong public and private sector background to the City of Yakima,\u201d said O\u2019Rourke.\u00a0 \u201cShe is well qualified to lead the City\u2019s efforts to optimize its engineering and utilities operations.\u00a0 We had a strong field of candidates apply for the position,\u201d said O\u2019Rourke.\u00a0 \u201cThe City is fortunate to be able to have someone of Debbie\u2019s caliber join the senior management team and help us continue to enhance how the City does business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cook graduated in 1984 from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Engineering.\u00a0 From 1984 to 1986, she completed course work toward a Master of Science in Civil Engineering degree at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.\u00a0 In 1991, Cook earned a Master of Business Administration degree from City University in Seattle.<\/p>\n

Cook went to work in 1986 as an Associate Engineer for the Municipality of Metropolitan Seattle, which would later merge with King County, coordinating wastewater treatment plant expansions in Renton and West Point.\u00a0 Cook then served as a Project Engineer for the Port of Port Townsend on a variety of projects including a moderate risk waste facility, dock upgrades, marine sanitation facilities, and boat ramps.\u00a0 Cook worked as a Senior Project Engineer for Zambrana Engineering, Inc., a private firm based in St. Louis, before returning to the public sector as a Project Control Engineer for the King County Department of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n

From 2000 to 2006, Cook worked for URS Corporation, an international engineering, construction, and technical services company.\u00a0 While with URS, Cook served in a variety of capacities on projects ranging from school and parks facilities in California to asbestos cleanup at SeaTac Airport and construction of a commuter rail station in Tukwila.<\/p>\n

In 2006, Cook was hired by the City of Rio Rancho, which has a population of about 90,000, as a Construction Manager in the Public Works Department.\u00a0 In her current role as Rio Rancho\u2019s Development Services Engineering Manager, Cook oversees public and private infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

As the City of Yakima\u2019s Director of Utilities and Engineering, Cook will be paid $115,000 a year and will be responsible for a department that will include the Engineering Division, the Water\/Irrigation Division, and the Wastewater Division.\u00a0 The 2013 operating and capital budgets for the Utilities and Engineering Department total $61.2 million.<\/p>\n

Director of Utilities and Engineering Selection (pdf)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contact: City Manager Tony O’Rourke \u2013 575-6040 Community Relations Manager Randy Beehler \u2013 901-1142 \u2013 randy.beehler@yakimawa.gov Yakima City Manager Tony O\u2019Rourke has selected Debbie Cook to become the City\u2019s new Director of Utilities and Engineering.\u00a0 Cook, who is currently the Development Services Engineering Manager for the City of Rio Rancho, New Mexico, expects to be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yakimawa.gov\/media\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}