When Daniel Gonzales was studying civil engineering at San José State University, he thought he was working toward a career in mechanical engineering.
“I liked airplanes,” he said. “My initial thought was being more involved in aeronautical engineering and designing. What I found out about myself is that I liked to be outside. Most mechanical engineers are not outside.
“I found the civil disciplines, they were constantly going out in the field, studying things, getting their hands on things, and I enjoyed that.”
The 44-year-old has been the public works director in Piedmont for the past five years. But he has decided to return to the private sector as CEO and president of CSG Consultants. His final day in Piedmont was July 10.
“I’ll be heading back into that world,” Gonzales said. “It will be an interesting change, an interesting challenge. But very, very similar to what I’ve been doing. I’m going to stay local. I grew up in the East Bay, I still live in the East Bay, I’m going to stay in the East Bay.”
Gonzales worked for CSG prior to working in the public sector. He was an assistant public works director in Hillsborough before coming to Piedmont.
He said his new job will keep him working with the public sector.
“All of their clients are public sector clients,” Gonzales said.
Several major projects came to fruition during Gonzales’s tenure in Piedmont. The rebuild of the pool might have been the biggest. But Gonzales said there were others that stood out — among them, the new dispatch center, various facilities projects, bicycle/pedestrian projects, the repair of one thousand feet of pathways in parks, multiple thousands of feet of sidewalk, and street repairs.
“What was most appealing to me about Piedmont was there were a variety of needs that had been identified,” he said. “This was during lockdown and COVID. People like myself, we want to have projects to work on and we want to bring them forward and complete them.”
When asked if there was anything he couldn’t get done in Piedmont, Gonzales said, “Always. This is a truth in life, there is never enough time to do all the things you want to do. The role is to identify the next things you want to accomplish. There will be somebody in this role in 100 years.
“We have a sewer project that we’re waiting for funding to be approved. I really hoped it would be in construction already. But that’s beyond our control.”
Gonzales said if it wasn’t for the opportunity with CSG, he wouldn’t have considered walking away from Piedmont.
“It’s a pretty small shop,” he said of the public works department. “We have 17, but some of those [personnel] are shared with other departments. It’s a small but mighty crew.”
Piedmont Communications Officer Echa Schneider said, “He’s been an incredible asset to Piedmont — his achievements in only five years as director are nothing short of remarkable.”
A fact sheet put out by the city said, “Under Daniel’s leadership, the city has taken a new, systematic approach to planning for and quantifying facility and infrastructure needs. This has resulted in development of Piedmont’s first five-year Capital Improvement Plan and completion of an unprecedented number of major capital improvements.”
Gonzales was lauded for his service by the City Council on Tuesday night, with current and past leadership in attendance to sing his praises.
