Public Works Director Bonnie Teaford to retire
Burbank Public Works Director Bonnie Teaford, who has been with the city for 17 years, will retire on December 19.
Engineering was not the career field Burbank Public Works Director Bonnie Teaford intended to enter when she went to college.
Teaford attended UC Santa Cruz and earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology, but after earning her degree, she became fascinated with potable water and how it worked.
As an anthropology major, she understood the cultural values a water well has on a community, but Teaford could not stop thinking about potable water systems and decided to take a few engineering classes at CSU Sacramento.
“Before you take an engineering class, first you have to take calculus, physics, chemistry and statics,” she said. “All of a sudden, by the time I figured out how to pump water, I was halfway through a civil engineering degree.”
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Teaford decided to stick with engineering, earned another bachelor’s degree at Sacramento and made a career out of it. She worked for private companies, became a consultant and eventually worked for the Burbank Public Works Department.
After 32 years in the field, of which 17 were spent with Burbank, Teaford, 59, has decided to hang up her hard hat and retire on Dec. 19.
As a Northern California native, Teaford and her husband may move back north to spend time with family members there.
“My husband has been spending a lot of time there with our families, and he’s been really anxious for us to move back,” she said. “He’s been very patient, and it’s time for me to support his endeavors as he has supported mine over the past 17 years here in Burbank.”
Teaford joined Burbank in December 1999 as chief assistant public works director after working as a consultant for the city for about 10 years.
“I think they got tired of paying my consulting fee,” she said, laughing.
Teaford took over the helm of the Public Works Department in 2005.
Throughout her 17 years with the city, Teaford has overseen several major projects, such as the Community Services Building, Ovrom Park and realignment of the intersection at Victory and Burbank boulevards and Victory Place, known as Five Points. More recently, she oversaw the renovation of Johnny Carson Park.
She said the two parts of her job she will miss the most are her employees and the “purpose of this work.”
“The job is about truly serving the community, and it gives my life purpose,” Teaford said.
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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
