Cindy Baker joined Kitsap County’s Department of Community Development (DCD) in November 2003 as the assistant director. Just a few months later she was thrust into the position of interim director when her boss and the man that hired her, Kamuron Gurol, resigned from his post, amid a plethora of rumors as to why.

Now, as the county conducts a nationwide search to fill the director position permanently, Baker’s days are filled with budget meetings, committee meetings, and the dozens of other tasks required to run a large county department that brings in millions of dollars worth of permit, licensing, and other fees each year.

“I’m not really involved with the [selection] process,” said Baker. “I’ve just been focusing on doing the job and getting it done.”

Born in Kentucky and raised in Colorado, Baker came to Washington to attend graduate school after earning her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Denver. She remained in Seattle after completing her master’s degree in soils at the University of Washington in 1979.

“I love the water,” said Baker. “Denver doesn’t have enough water.”

Early in her career she worked on erosion control projects for the King County Conservation District as a water quality scientist. She then moved on to work as a road and storm inspector for King County, and managed a $25 million program for hazardous waste management.

For the last 13 years or so Baker has worked in the private sector, serving as an environmental planning manager for a number of large engineering companies, including David Evans and Associates and Berger/ABAM Consulting Engineers. Just prior to joining DCD Baker was running her own consulting firm, Lexington Consulting, Inc., offering environmental planning and project management services to clients such as the city of Tacoma.

Her move back into the public sector was prompted by a coincidence.

“I started my own business because I wanted to work on my own and see what that was like,” said Baker. “And I found that I really missed people. Around the time I was starting to realize this, I received a letter from the county about their search for an assistant director.”

Baker still lives in Seattle, commuting to work each day by ferry, but she has recently found a place to live in Kitsap County and hopes to purchase a home here soon.

“I’ve tried three times to find houses and each time I end up being too busy to focus on it,” said Baker.

The fact of the matter is even if Baker wanted to sit around and contemplate whether she will still be DCD director a few months from now, she just wouldn’t have time. As assistant director her focus was primarily on managing the land use and permitting areas of DCD, but now she has inherited a number of significant projects many that were part of long-term planning.

“There’s probably 20 major things on our plate right now,” Baker estimated. Those items include writing a new two-year budget for the department; drafting two critical area ordinance plans, one for the South Kitsap area and one for the Central Kitsap area — with a plan for the North Kitsap area coming in a second phase; and meeting a July 1 deadline for integrating the new international building and fire codes.

Although she’s only been in her position a short time, and has had a full plate since day one, Baker already has a short list of accomplishments she can point to. One of the accomplishments she cites is the creation of what she calls “The List” — an organized list of department wants and needs in areas such as code development and process development. There are more than 200 items on the list to date and Baker feels it has helped the department be more organized and track improvements more efficiently.

Creating the Nuisance Abatement Team is also something she’s proud of. The team is a joint effort between the sheriff, the state patrol, the health department, animal control, cities, and others eliminate nuisance sites such as junked cars, meth labs, trash lots, and other areas.

Overall, said Baker, “I’ve worked hard to create a collaborative environment for the staff and others outside the department,” whether they be members of other departments, other city or county agencies, or members of the public.

Baker credits the DCD staff as being a huge help to her since she has been at the department. “The staff has been very supportive,” said Baker. “I feel like I have gems for employees. There’s no one there that doesn’t work hard.”

Baker would not speculate on her chances of being chosen to fill the director position permanently.

“They need to be sure they hire the right person,” said Baker, referring to the county commissioners and others involved in the selection process. “And I need to make sure it’s what I want, as well.”

At any rate, whether Baker will be selected as director — or, if she is not, whether she chooses to remain at DCD — will not be determined for several months. The application deadline for the director position was August 27. Application review will take several weeks and interviews may not even begin until November.