CARSON CITY - Daniel O'Brien, public works director and county engineer for Lyon County, has been named manager of the Nevada Public Works Board, responsible for more than $200 million in state construction every two years.
The PWB interviewed five candidates before unanimously choosing O'Brien, who will succeed Eric Raecke as of Dec. 1. The job pays $89,301 a year.
O'Brien has been public works chief in Lyon County since December 1998. Before that he ran his own business. From 1986 to 1994 he was public works director for Carson City.
The job drew 14 applicants. The field was narrowed to five finalists by an evaluation team that included three board members; state Prison Director Jackie Crawford; Dan Miles, vice chancellor of the University and Community College System of Nevada; and representatives of the construction and architecture industries.
Other finalists were Donald Hotchkiss, a former PWB deputy; Charles Swanson, who worked for the Army Corps of Engineers; Dean Borges, a former deputy manager of the board; and Ward Patrick, a current deputy of the board and interim manager.
