Baker was originally hired in November of 2003 as assistant DCD director. She became interim director just about a year later, when the man who hired her, Kamuron Gurol, resigned abruptly over what was heavily rumored, but never officially confirmed, to be a sexual harassment situation involving another DCD employee. She was later hired as the permanent director after competing with several other candidates for the job. Baker was the county’s third DCD director in less than five years.

In spite of being generally liked by builders and developers, and being honored as Public Official of the Year in 2004 by the Homebuilders Association (HBA), Baker had come under heavy fire for her management at DCD from a number of quarters, including some of those who supported her. A consultant brought in by the commissioners to look at all phases of county management, has been especially critical of how DCD is run — more so than any other particular department according to Commissioner Patty Lent.

Olympia-based consulting firm, Sage Solutions LLC, was hired to study DCD’s services, organization and workload. Its report, which is scheduled to be completed this spring, will measure customer and employee satisfaction and recommend specific actions to increase staff retention and provide solutions for strengthening service and developing the organization.

The most constant criticism by DCD users concerns department personnel and their lack of consistency in the administration of permit processing, and regulatory enforcement. Although permitting is supposedly Baker’s strong suite, according to many DCD clients, interpretation of permitting rules vary widely depending on which staffer handles the permit. What one allows is often denied by another. Bureaucratic interpretation problems became especially onerous where environmental rules are concerned during Baker’s reign, with some staffers allegedly enforcing personal biases as permitting conditions.

Baker was also under attack for her department’s handling of the recently passed Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) by numerous organizations on all sides of the issue. Possible appeals are planned by several environmental groups, tribes, the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners (KAPO), as well as quite possibly, by a majority of the county’s own appointed planning commissioners.

“I’d never wish bad things on anyone, but I guess DCD’s sleazy operation finally caught up with her,” said Planning Commissioner Mike Gustavson, a retired marine engineer who has been quite outspoken in his criticism of DCD’s handling of the CAO issue. “Any time you ignore the Planning Commission’s input, the public’s input, real, documented science, and you cave in to the whims of bureaucrats at DOE (Department of Ecology), while you can’t even keep your own people under control, you have a serious management problem on your hands.”

Gustavson went on to say, “When you look at the ongoing turnover and constant turmoil at DCD, the only person I can lay that on is Chris Endresen. People worked extremely hard with great sincerity for two years on the CAO, and all their efforts were totally ignored by the county. She (Baker) should have had (Jim) Bolger, as well as the whole process under control, and she didn’t. The inmates have been running the asylum at DCD for way too long.”

Vivian Henderson, executive director of KAPO was more restrained in her comments, saying, “I can’t say I’m sorry to see her go. I found her to be less than straightforward in her dealings with us. I just hope the commissioners can find a new DCD director that embraces a balance between the property owners point of view as well as those of the environmentalists.”

“I question the wisdom of pulling the plug on leadership at a time when we have so many critical issues facing the county,” said builder Rick Courson of Cedar Bay Homes in Poulsbo. A past president of the HBA, and a nationally recognized pioneer of the green building movement, Courson cited the impending 10-year update of the comprehensive plan — which is mandated by the state to be completed by the end of this year — as well as the sub-area planning processes currently underway, and several other major issues as reasons not to make a change at this point in time. “We’re losing all that history and institutional knowledge of the issues and processes, and that’s a real shame,” he said.

Also in defense of Baker, Art Castle, executive vice president of the HBA, said, “I think she’s one of the best public officials I’ve ever worked with. She brought an openness and a willingness to work with our industry to the table.” He added, “What we liked best about her was that when we asked questions, she would research the answer and come back to us. We didn’t always like the answer, but that’s more than anyone else ever did for us.”

A number of builders, developers and environmentalists contacted for this story all seemed to agree that the DCD director’s job may be too big for one person to tackle effectively. Several suggested the commissioners should explore putting both long and short-range planning and zoning under one umbrella, assigning the Fire Marshall and fire code functions to Public Works, while keeping permitting and environmental issues under DCD authority.

A number of DCD clients also suggested that a large part of the problem lies in the fact the director is caught in a no-win situation pitting the requirements of the state’s Growth Management Act, budgetary constraints, ideological biases of the staff, and the county commissioner’s own highly divergent political views on growth, all against each other. Several builders and environmentalists alike stated that they believed no director has had the indispensable, strong political support needed from all three commissioners to make the personnel changes necessary to effectively fix the ongoing problems, and until that happens, the director’s job will continue to be a revolving door.

Because Baker’s leaving is a personnel matter, none of the county commissioners could officially comment due to confidentiality regulations. But in a press release issued by the county, Commission Chair Jan Angel stated, “The department’s workload on high-profile land-use issues has taken a toll on DCD staff and its leadership. Cindy gave it her all, and she really tried hard to keep us moving in the right direction. She has played an important role at the county, and we wish her the best of luck as she moves forward with her career.”

Until a new director is named, Assistant Director Jim Bolger has been put in charge of running the day-to-day operations of the DCD, which has 82 full-time employees and an $7 million annual operating budget. County Administrator Cris Gears has been tasked with providing policy direction, guidance and logistical support to ensure that work on the 10-Year Comprehensive Plan update continues to move forward.