By Jessie Stensland / Whidbey News-Times

A former rocket scientist will be taking over Island County largest’s department from a former nuclear submarine engineer.

Island County commissioners hired Connie Bowers to replace Bill Oakes as the county public works director and county engineer. Oakes, who worked in the Navy on a fast attack submarine before becoming the longtime public works director, is retiring at the end of the year.

Bowers worked with Oakes for 13 years, first as a traffic engineer and then as the assistant county engineer. Bowers, a Langley resident, left last year to become assistant city engineer for the city of Mukilteo, but she returns to Island County this week.

“She was a stellar employee, a great collaborator and very community-minded when it comes to problem solving,” Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson said.

Johnson said the board has a lot of trust in Bowers and expects a seamless transition. Bowers will earn $130,000 a year.

The new public works director said she’s thrilled to be returning.

“We have a good group of people who really support each other,” she said.

Prior to coming to work for the county in 2007, Bowers worked in the aerospace industry in Texas. Her work included space shuttle cabin temperature comfort modeling, solid rocket motor design and new aircraft mission analysis.

As public works director, Bowers will preside over a $40 million annual budget and 120 employees who provide wide-ranging services in the county, including roads, surface water drainage, parks and trails, solid waste, emergency management and GIS mapping.

Bowers is starting just as storm season is kicking into high gear, which often means a lot of extra work for public works road crews and others. As public works director, Bowers will run the public works response room if any natural or unnatural disasters strike the county.

Bowers said she will carry on the department’s mission of “safety through public works.”

As a former traffic engineer, Bowers has an in-depth knowledge of the county’s road system. She said she will continue Oakes’ attention to maintaining county roads, which have a reputation in the state as being top-notch.

Bowers was in charge of many of the county’s large road and trail-related projects during her earlier tenure with the county, including a redesign of the intersection at Regatta Drive and Crescent Harbor Road, installation of a roundabout on Ault Field Road and the addition of traffic signals on Heller Road. She oversaw the building of Oakes Road, the county’s newest road, which was named after her predecessor.

Bowers also led efforts to create some key planning documents, such as the non-motorized transportation plan, the Island Regional Transportation Planning Organization’s transportation plans, traffic calming policies and even the golf cart county code.

Bowers said she’s not as familiar with other aspects of public works, such as solid waste and parks, and will concentrate on getting up to speed in those areas. She said she’s lucky she has a strong staff she can rely on.

In addition, Bowers will work directly for the commissioners for the first time.

This story originally appeared in the Whidbey News-Times, a sister publication to The Herald.