Garcia In, Doherty Out As Sanitation Commish
The Sanitation Department picked up new leadership last Saturday, Mar. 15.
Mayor Bill de Blasio named Kathryn Garcia, the chief operating officer of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the city’s 43rd sanitation commissioner. She replaces the retiring John J. Doherty, who led New York’s Strongest under three mayors and ended a career with the department that spanned five decades.
“This is some of the toughest, most demanding work in our city- and Kathryn has what it takes to do this department and our city proud,” de Blasio said in announcing Garcia’s appointment last Saturday. “From plowing streets to daily collections, our Sanitation Department will continue to deliver the services New Yorkers expect and deserve-even as we cut down on waste and make ours a greener, more efficient city.”
“This work can keep a city running or stop it in its tracks. It’s that critical,” Garcia said. “This is an incredible department, but we won’t rest on our laurels. I am committed to strengthening and expanding DSNY’s programs to deliver these critical services to every resident and business, in every neighborhood. We’ll do it consistently, effectively and equitably, and we will seek out every opportunity to do it better and more sustainably.”
While serving as the DEP’s chief operating officer, de Blasio noted, Garcia led the Bureaus of Water Supply, Water and Sewer Operations and Wastewater. Combined, the three bureaus employ 4,000 workers and manage a four-year capital expense budget of $1.9 billion and an annual $540 million expense budget.
During her time at the DEP, the mayor stated, Garcia developed H20Stat, a performance program which decreased the agency’s response times to 311 complaints; and developed various crisis management programs.
Prior to joining the DEP, Garcia served 10 years as vice president of the non-profit consulting firm Appleseed. Early in her career, she worked at the city Department of Finance as a policy analyst.
Speaking about the outgoing commissioner, de Blasio publicly thanked Doherty for his decades of service, adding that “his integrity, his spirit and his capacity for the superhuman have driven this department for decades.” He was especially grateful to Doherty for staying on through this winter and guiding the agency through its response to several major snowstorms.
Doherty-who first joined the Sanitation Department in 1960 as a worker-rose through the ranks to become the city’s 40th sanitation commissioner in 1994, appointed by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He resigned from the post after four years on the job, but returned in 2002 at the request of then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The city’s 42nd sanitation commissioner served all 12 years of Bloomberg’s tenure.
