We are pleased to announce that our new Public Works Director, Panos Kokkas, will be starting on August 16, 2021. Please help us welcome him to Nevada County!
Panos Kokkas has over 36 years of extensive technical and management experience in the public and private sectors across the country. He has expertise in the full spectrum of engineering and public works management, including planning, financing, budgeting, project management, engineering, construction, and operations and maintenance activities for municipalities, counties, state agencies, and utility districts; as well as comprehensive experience in developing and managing Capital Improvement Programs (CIP’s). Agencies he served include the Town of Danville, City of Brentwood, Contra Costa Water District, Illinois Tollway Authority, Yolo County, City of Manteca, and private engineering firms.
Most recently as the Director of Public Works for the City of Manteca, Panos directed and managed all the functions of the Public Works Department, including street maintenance; park maintenance; solid waste collection; wastewater collection and treatment; water production and distribution; citywide fleet services; transit operations; and public building maintenance. Prior to the City of Manteca, he served as the Director of the Public Works, County Engineer, and Road Commissioner of Yolo County, where he directed and managed all functions of the Public Works Division’s multi-department county agency responsible for Yolo County’s transportation and utility infrastructure system, including the county-wide Fleet Services Division. In addition, he developed and oversaw Yolo County’s comprehensive operations and multi-year CIP for road, bridge, storm drain projects, and service district improvements. Panos contributed to the Public Works industry by participating in the County Engineer’s Association of California (CEAC), serving as Secretary and Vice President as well as a member of the Local Streets and Road Committee, which helped form the basis for the SB1, Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
Other contributions include the co-authoring of “Seismic retrofit of liquid storage tanks,” Bureau, G. & Kokkas, P. presented at the Earthquake Engineering: Tenth World Conference in Madrid Spain, 1992. He served as an Adjunct Professor of Management, where he taught Project Management and Principals of Management at DeVry University in Addison, Illinois. Panos received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Montana State University and Master of Business Administration degree from Saint Mary’s College of California. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in California, Montana, and Illinois.