Metropolitan Council member and interim Met Council chair Deb Barber is in line to take over the City of Saint Paul’s Department of Public Works, according to local reporting, putting a regional transportation insider in charge of the city’s day-to-day infrastructure grind. If confirmed, she would replace current director Sean Kershaw, who has led the department since 2020, in what would be a significant shakeup at one of City Hall’s most influential agencies.
The Pioneer Press first surfaced the leadership change, citing internal emails that state Barber will step into the top Public Works job while Kershaw shifts into an interim operations manager and special projects role. As reported by the Pioneer Press, city officials were expected to roll out a formal announcement about the shakeup the week after that story ran. The outlet also reported that the internal notification went out just ahead of the city posting for additional senior operations staff.
Barber currently represents District 4 on the Metropolitan Council and is listed as co‑founder and senior partner of Canopy Medical in her council biography. The Metropolitan Council notes she was first appointed to the regional board in 2015 and has chaired its transportation committee, giving her hands-on experience with transit and regional project delivery. Supporters say that kind of résumé could make it easier for Saint Paul to line up big projects that spill over city boundaries and into the wider metro network.
What Public Works Handles
Saint Paul Public Works oversees one of Minnesota’s largest municipal engineering operations and is responsible for the city’s streets, traffic signals, bridges, sidewalks, sewers and trash programs. The department’s web page tallies hundreds of miles of streets and sewers, more than 70 city bridges and thousands of miles of sidewalks and bike lanes under Public Works’ care, according to the City of Saint Paul. With that much concrete, asphalt and underground pipe to manage, the director’s chair is one of the most consequential seats in Saint Paul government.
The department also carries a hefty budget and staff. A GovernmentJobs.com posting describes an annual operating budget of more than $270 million and a workforce of over 400 full‑time employees spread across 13 divisions. Those postings, which the city uses to hire for multiple Public Works roles, spell out units such as Street Engineering and Construction, Traffic Operations and the Sewer Utility. The size of the operation helps explain why the city is actively recruiting an operations manager and other senior leaders right now.
Where This Could Change the Work
Putting a Met Council member in charge of Public Works would bring a distinctly regional lens to Saint Paul’s street-level decisions. The move could smooth coordination on light-rail alignments, street redesigns and stormwater projects that cross city, county and regional lines. Barber’s recent work on regional transportation and her stint as interim Met Council chair create ties across transit and planning agencies that the city could lean on, as reported by the Star Tribune. Early tests for any new director will be familiar to residents: snow operations, a paving backlog and the city’s ongoing solid-waste arrangements.
Kershaw was appointed Public Works director by Mayor Melvin Carter in June 2020, according to a mayoral office press release that year. The city’s 2020 announcement introducing Kershaw highlighted his background in planning and nonprofit leadership and framed him as the person to steer the department through a period of heavy capital work. In recent seasons he has been a visible public face for snow-response briefings and for opening the city’s seasonal asphalt plant.
The department’s active recruitment for an operations manager is part of a broader reshuffling of senior roles, according to GovernmentJobs.com. Internal emails highlighted in reporting indicate Kershaw would move into an interim operations manager and special projects position once Barber takes over as director, per the Pioneer Press account. City leaders appear to be rearranging the senior team in a way that keeps institutional memory in-house while handing Barber the top job.
What to Watch
Next up is an official statement from City Hall that locks in Barber’s start date and clarifies titles and responsibilities for both Kershaw and the incoming operations manager. Residents will be looking for clear timelines and measurable promises on pothole repair, snow removal and the pace of street work once the new leadership is in place. Council members and neighborhood groups are likely to press for specifics as the handoff moves from internal emails to public reality.
