Two new managers have been appointed to top positions recently within the
King County Department of Transportation.
Paulette Norman is the new County Road Engineer for the
King County Road Services Division,
and Jim O’Rourke is the new manager of operations for
King County Metro Transit.
"Both Paulette and Jim are talented long-time county employees, who have
worked their way up through their respective organizations," said Harold
Taniguchi, director of the department. "I am very pleased to see them promoted
to positions that take full advantage of their professional knowledge and
expertise, great customer service ethic, and leadership abilities."
Norman started with King County in 1987 as an engineer in the traffic
engineering section. She has been both the traffic operations supervisor and
manager of the traffic engineering section, as well as serving as the acting
County Road Engineer since November 2001.
The County Road Engineer (CRE) is one of the oldest supervisory positions in
King County, dating back to the 1850s. The CRE serves as an advisor and
consultant to the Roads division director on road-related transportation policy
issues and represents the division in multi-jurisdictional forums. By state
law, Norman also has responsibility for the Engineering Services and Traffic
Engineering Sections, and review of engineering work and design done by the
Road Maintenance Section.
O’Rourke began his career with Metro as a bus driver in 1979. Since that
time, he has served as base dispatcher, staffing coordinator, labor relations
specialist, and base supervisor.
In his new position, O’Rourke is in charge of the day-to-day operations of a
bus system with 1,300 vehicles and 2,700 staff directly responsible for bus
operations, service communications, driver training and service quality. Metro
is currently ranked as the sixth largest transit agency in the country by the
American Public Transportation Association.
