Department of Public Utilities Public Relations Manager Cathy D’Anna retired May 19 after 20 years of service to Los Alamos County. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
Working for a public utility company was never something Cathy D’Anna planned to do; but pivoting in her job led to a career she said she has loved.
Now, after four-and-a-half years working as the Los Alamos County Department of Public Utilities’ (DPU) Public Relations Manager, D’Anna retired on May 19. DPU Conservation Coordinator Abbey Hayward has taken the Public Relations Manager reins.
“I love working for the Department of Public Utilities even though I never set out to work in this field after moving to Los Alamos,” D’Anna said. “I took the first solid, reliable job I could find at a time when I really needed it so I could raise my kids without worry. I stayed open to opportunities and those first steps led to a career far beyond what I imagined at the time. Not every moment was rosy or worth repeating, but the big picture has been incredible. My advice to people starting out is to take dependable work, be curious, take initiative in your job, say yes to chances to learn, and let small opportunities become the path to something bigger.”
Twenty years ago, D’Anna started as a County employee with a degree and a background in journalism.
She said she started in DPU customer service, before it turned into the Customer Care Center. She was promoted to assistant management analyst, doing data dives and payroll. When the Customer Care Center was formed, she served as a supervisor as well as doing troubleshooting for the billing and work order software. D’Anna moved on to be the Business Operations Manager, primarily responsible for the budget and the County/Los Alamos National Laboratory power pool agreement billing. She was working on the project for implementing the MUNIS software when D’Anna said she decided it was time for a change. She worked as a Senior Management Analyst in the Community Services Department when the DPU Public Relations Manager position opened after Julie Williams-Hill moved on to be the County Public Information Officer.
D’Anna said she was excited for the Public Relations Manager job because it allowed her to exercise her journalism skills.
“That’s where my education is,” D’Anna said. “The whole time that I worked for the County I had this journalism degree, I had done various journalism jobs but I was also raising my kids … in a small town there’s not a lot of journalism opportunities so I just kind of put it in my back pocket and I would help Julie with things if I had the opportunity. I always loved it, but I didn’t ever think I would get a job in it again. So, when I got this job, I was on cloud nine. I was very excited.”
During her tenure, D’Anna said she is proud of her work to humanize the department.
“When people think of utilities, it’s more like a chore than something they’re excited to take care of so I wanted to humanize it because it is real easy — when you only talk to someone on the phone or you see something online or in a bill — to make a snap judgement,” she said. “I wanted to remind the community that the people who work at utilities are their friends, their neighbors, their community members and they’re really not different from everybody else.”
To do that, D’Anna said she initiated the DPU staff spotlight on social media. For about a year, she featured a staff member once a week and used the hashtags “#FriendsAndNeighbors” and “#community.” She said the spotlight had great reception and really resonated with people online.
Her other creations were the DPU’s emoji mascots to represent the different utility services: electricity, gas, water, and sewer.
The emojis were used “to lighten the conversation,” D’Anna said.
“People really liked those,” she added, and so a public contest was held to name each of the emojis. Since then, Blinky, Toasty, Droppy, and Duke have become favorites when the DPU attends public events. To further boost the department’s local relevance, she and Hayward regularly participate in community events. Last year, D’Anna said they set up the DPU tent and booth for public outreach at least seven times.
These efforts paid off, she said. “Now people walk by and recognize us. They see us, and the DPU, as part of the community. They see the folks in the department as neighbors first, not just the people who turn off meters or respond to sewer overflows,” D’Anna said. “We’re real people who care, and while we may not be able to change how everyone sees us, many have. That shift matters to me.”
Another highlight was working to replenish the Utilities Assistance Program (UAP). A couple of years ago, D’Anna said, the program’s funds had dwindled but the need for it was rising.
In response, D’Anna said she helped to turn the few people who were voluntarily billed monthly for their UAP contributions into a more obvious sustainable donor option available to those who wish to support the program. There is a form on the website to become a sustainable donor on the UAP page at https://ladpu.com/assist.
Furthermore, she said a funding drive was held with the Municipal Building’s CommuniTREE. It was decorated to remind people about the program and if they donated, they would get a leaf or a light bulb on the tree. Also, D’Anna said the DPU shop was set up where people can buy DPU emoji-branded products from Zazzle.com at https://ladpu.com/shop. Any proceeds go toward the UAP.
Lastly, D’Anna said she is also proud to have led the charge on the Ask-The-County Chatbot.
“That was an initiative I began a couple years ago, and it finally came to fruition last fall, and it’s been a really good success for the County,” she said.
As she closes this particular chapter, D’Anna said the thing she is going to miss most are her coworkers.
“I am going to miss the people that I work with,” she said. “I’ve always maintained … that utilities is just a fantastic group of people. I stumbled into my first job in utilities; I never set out to work for utilities, and I think an awful lot of people that are in the department didn’t. It is one of those lucky breaks that we all got.”
Looking ahead, D’Anna said she is hoping to resume projects and home improvements she has had to delay due to work. She said she is also looking forward to spending time with her family. D’Anna said she has two stepdaughters who live in town as well as a daughter who resides in Durango and a son who is in Okinawa, Japan.