Henrico names VDOT’s Terrell Hughes to lead Public Works
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For the fifth time in less than four months, Henrico County has named a new director for one of its departments – and for the second time in that period, the new hire is a Virginia Department of Transportation official.
County officials Friday named Terrell Hughes director of the Henrico Department of Public Works, effective Aug. 31.
Hughes currently works as assistant planning director and assistant division administrator for the Transportation and Mobility Planning Division of VDOT, where he has provided oversight for the department’s STARS and multimodal programs and has supported the administration of Virginia’s SMART SCALE funding prioritization program.
Prior to his time with VDOT, Hughes worked as an engineer and project manager for Kimley-Horn & Associates, a project engineer with Davenport Transportation Consulting and a transportation engineer with the Timmons Group.
He joins Yvette D. George (a former VDOT official who was appointed Henrico’s new human resources director in May) as employees of the state agency selected to lead Henrico departments recently.
As director of Henrico’s DPW, Hughes will oversee an agency with 269 employees and a budget of more than $52 million for the 2020-21 fiscal year. DPW manages the design, construction and maintenance of secondary roads in the county. With more than 3,500 lane miles and 159 traffic signals, Henrico operates the third-largest road network in Virginia.
DPW also is responsible for storm water drainage, administration of public transit services and enforcement of erosion and sedimentation laws and ordinances. The department comprises the divisions of design, maintenance, construction, transportation development, traffic engineering and environmental control, as well as the standing water initiative.
The recipient of a 2019 VDOT Commissioner’s Award, Hughes is president of the Old Dominion section of the American Society of Highway Engineers. He earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering from Virginia Tech and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Hughes and his wife Brittany have four children.
In addition to Hughes, since mid-May, Henrico has appointed the following people to lead county agencies:
• Tom Tokarz, county attorney (appointed Aug. 3, effective Aug. 15; previously deputy county attorney – replace Joe Rapisarda, who retired);
• Meghan Coates, Finance (appointed July 28, effective Aug. 1; previously acting director – replaced Ned Smither, who accepted the role of administrator for Powhatan County);
• Bentley Chan, Public Utilities (appointed July 8, effective July 18; previously acting director – replaced Chip England, who accepted the role of General Services director for Hanover County);
• Yvette George, Human Resources (appointed May 12, effective June 8; previously human resources manager for VDOT – replaced Paula Reid).
A sixth new appointment is expected to take place Tuesday, when longtime Board of Supervisors Clerk Barry Lawrence submits his retirement notice. A board paper indicates that Lawrence will retire effective Aug. 28 and the board will appoint deputy clerk Tanya Harding to the role effective Sept. 1.
The county also has two other high-level vacancies: its police chief, Humberto Cardounel, will retire Sept. 1, and its deputy county manager for community development position is open, following the recent retirement of Randy Silber, who held the position for a number of years. That appointment would restore the county’s full complement of five deputy county managers.
