Smith comes to Seattle by way of coastal Newport, Oregon, where she’s been the CEO/General Manager of the Central Lincoln People's Utility District since 2013. Before that, she worked in the Eugene Water and Electrical Board, dating back to 1996.

"With Debra we are getting a leader who is obsessed with customer service — and we know we need work there," Mayor Durkan said Tuesday. "She is dedicated and curious about — how do we innovate? But how do we innovate without sacrificing the essential services that we need for our residents and businesses?"

If approved by the Seattle City Council, Smith will oversee nearly 2,000 employees from south Seattle to the department’s Skagit River Hydroelectric Project in the North Cascades, to the Boundary Hydroelectric Project on the Pend Oreille River in northeast Washington. For Smith, it’s a significant increase in responsibility from the relatively small operation in Newport where she has overseen a staff of just about 140 employees and an annual budget of $100 million. "This is the big time here,” Smith said, standing next to Durkan at a press conference.

But Keith Tymchuck, Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Central Lincoln PUD, said there was nothing to be concerned about Smith taking on the task. "She’s an exceptional leader," he said in a telephone interview. "I’m not sure I’ve ever been involved with someone who has the capacity to see the broad picture, including the next steps to get to where we want to go, but also to solve the narrow picture of what this organization needs today."

In the past, the CEO of City Light has been the city’s highest paid employee; former CEO Larry Weis earned $340,000 a year before Mayor Durkan accepted his resignation last year. Past administrations have said that’s the price of competing with the private sector, although several council members, most vocally Kshama Sawant, have pilloried the high salaries.

The CEO has also in recent years been the only department head eligible for a bonus. But after Weis gave himself perfect marks on a performance evaluation last year, the City Council may have axed that perk for good.

Mayor Durkan has not been shy in expressing her frustration with the department, particularly when it comes to workplace culture, customer service and utility rates. "We know that we have significant challenges [at City Light] both culturally, that’s been well reported, but also where this utility is poised in this new world we live in, in a changing environment around energy," she said. She added, "We have to do better by our ratepayers and get our rates as low as possible for residents and businesses."

In light of this sentiment, it is unsurprising that Durkan chose to go outside of the city to find the department’s new CEO. It was not for lack of options: Interim CEO Jim Baggs applied for the permanent position, as did one other senior leader in the department, according to a source familiar with the process.

But neither of the internal candidates were among the five finalists interviewed by Mayor Durkan last week, according to two people familiar with the process.

"That isn't to denigrate anyone internally, it’s just where we are as a utility," Durkan said, adding that the utility attracted a highly competitive pool of applicants.

Although Smith comes from a much smaller operation in Oregon, she brings experience in some of the areas that have caused the department problems: customer service, employee relations and long-term strategic planning. She holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Arizona State University and has worked in customer service, human resources, account management and strategic planning, according to her LinkedIn page.

“Mayor Durkan sought a leader that could continue to reliably deliver service, improve workplace culture and customer service, revamp the business model to create an affordable rate path, and position the utility to lead on climate change and in the new energy era,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.