People Behind the Pipes

1. Describe your job.
I support a wide variety of programs in the Engineering Department for the Permitting and Planning Divisions, which also includes Clean Water Programs, GIS, and asset management. I take in a lot of plan submittals on permitting and keep track of what our technicians are working on. There is a lot of back and forth with the City of Dublin, customers, and developers. I manage a few databases, send out backflow notices, make sure software is kept up-to-date, and do correspondence for the District’s dental pollution prevention program. I’ve worked with planning, permitting and our construction inspectors on large-scale developments such as the new Kaiser Permanente facility in Dublin, residential development, and smaller projects like homeowners adding a bathroom or an outdoor sink. I support our GIS staff who plot out pipelines and keep track of the entire system’s inventory.

Administrative Assistant II Sara Tom prepares recycled water signs at the DSRSD Permit Counter.

2. What do you like best about your job?
I enjoy all the variety because it keeps things interesting with multiple programs and divisions. I can use my administrative skills to support a public agency. I work with other departments, and I’ve learned a lot about wastewater systems—it’s been really interesting.

We have a good team at DSRSD; that’s really important. It’s almost like a second family. The people we work with are good people, and they really know what they’re doing.

3. How did you get into this field?
I was working for a tech company in Silicon Valley doing office management and travel planning, and after a couple years I was not feeling fulfilled. Being an Administrative Assistant for a public agency was the best way to contribute back to the community in some way. I joined DSRSD in 2007 in a limited-term position, and they decided to hire me full-time.

4. What are the biggest challenges of your position?
What I enjoy most—the variety of tasks and multiple people and supervisors to support—can still feel overwhelming at times. I juggle the workload and multiple projects. You just have to make your list and stay organized or can end up stressed out.

5. How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your job?
I’m now working from home, though still going into the office about once a week. It was a really weird transition, though working from home itself was the biggest change. We’ve managed to convert almost all forms into an electronic format. It’s turned out fine as we’ve smoothed things out. Some of this was already in the works, asking people to submit applications electronically and converting to electronic submission. It was important to make sure customers could still reach us from home and we could still do everything we usually do. It’s a little weird not having the interaction with my team, but we use the chat feature a lot and it’s been interesting.

6. What is something unique about yourself?
When I first went to college, I was an illustration major. I learned creating illustrations for magazine articles or book covers. By my third year, I no longer enjoyed drawing on demand but now still draw as a hobby. 

My husband, John, is a first-level sommelier, and I’ve been learning a lot about wine over the years. We do a lot of tastings. I love champagne, it is my favorite, and I love local sparkling wine.

7. What is your favorite hobby?
I really like working out. I miss the gym a lot right now and lifting heavy weights. Working out in my living room has been really interesting. I started weightlifting 10 to 12 years ago—I had no strength, I couldn’t even do 5 pushups. It’s very empowering to be able to lift heavier than you weigh.