St. Paul City Councilmember Saura Jost, PE
After 12 years as a consulting engineer, Saura Jost (BCE 2010), stepped into elected government service.
On November 7, 2024, Saura Jost was elected to the St. Paul City Council where she represents Ward 3. She is now part of an historic city council in which all members were under 40 years old when elected, all are women, and most are people of color. CEGE talked with Jost just six months into her term. Jost had already identified instances where her engineering expertise is helpful in this new role.
Deep Roots
Although City Councilmember is a new role for Jost, politics is not a new interest. She has deep roots in her community—now living in the same house where she grew up—and had thought about running for elected office even in high school. After a few years away while completing her master’s in civil engineering at the University of Washington, Jost returned to St. Paul. She worked almost ten years with MBJ and now works at SEH. Jost has been active in local politics, campaigning for other candidates and taking part in her Neighborhood council.
A big impetus in running for City Council was Jost’s experience as an engineer and understanding the impact engineering has on a city. “I saw how much funding we need at all levels of government to make all the infrastructure that we need a reality. Working as an engineer, I’ve seen what can happen when a city doesn’t have the funding needed. I started to see the importance of being involved civically.”
Another motivator was watching Ann Johnson Stewart, her fellow engineer (and former instructor for surveying and CADD), run in and win a state senate election. Johnson Stewart talked with Jost about the impact that could be made by an engineer at the state level, from educating her colleagues to championing infrastructure. Jost recalls, “I saw that I could make a really great impact, that I could do it, and that people would support me.”
“Another important motivator,” Jost noted, “was that I became a mom. Having a now-5-year-old at home made me think about our future and providing for young people in the city. That was a strong motivation for me to run.”
The Campaign
Jost described the election process as unlike anything she had done before. “The work was really different, a lot of fundraising, a lot of talking to people telling them why I wanted to do this, what I would be able to do for them, and why they should trust me.
“I had to overcome my discomfort with things that I hadn’t done before, I learned a lot about myself, too. I am a little bit introverted as an engineer. I had to learn to give speeches, to do forums and debates, and improve my in-person and email communication skills. But the public speaking skills were big because, in politics, your first impression can really stick with people. The more I did it, practiced it, I got better, and it became easier and sort of fun.”
Technical Expertise
Beginning work on the Council, Jost found some of the day-to-day tasks a bit familiar. The St. Paul City Council is a part time appointment, so Jost continues to work as a senior consulting engineer at SEH where she oversees other engineers and manages projects. Although she is doing much the same kind of work there that she did before the election, it takes more communication and coordination with her teams to keep projects functioning smoothly. Coming in with that professional experience, she was used to working with a variety of people, managing people and projects, and keeping teams moving forward and communicating with each other. Jost summed it up, “All helpful!”
Her technical expertise has proven to be practically applicable and her engineering approach immediately helpful. “In non-engineering settings, I often hear that I ask different kinds of questions. Engineers are used to deadlines and working in a project-based way. We are very organized. We know how to take a complicated problem and organize it in a way that a result can be accomplished. So, I have been able to be helpful in Ward 3 and on the Council as we talk through a lot of complicated issues.”
“Even in the first six months, I found my previous experience
and technical expertise to be useful and appreciated on the City Council.”
The City of St. Paul has a lot of initiatives related to roads, development, zoning, climate action, and the environment. Jost’s engineering experience means that she understands road construction projects and how those projects generally flow and are funded. “I am very excited to talk about the City’s sales tax issues and funding for our many miles of roads projects.”
Her proficiency with technical drawings and aptitude with specification language and codes will be important as the City Council considers zoning and potential development projects. Her background with climate mitigation projects at SEH helps her understand presentations about greenhouse gas emissions and impacts of transportation and buildings or about PFAS in water. She can quickly understand what is being presented because of her familiarity with some of the science and the language.
“A lot of my colleagues on the Council don’t enjoy looking at lots of data and spreadsheets, but I really enjoy that! Having that expertise, I can take some of these technical issues that the City is dealing with and help others understand. And I can help us come up with solutions.”
The diversity on the current Council, Jost says, is beneficial, “We are people who see things differently and gather information differently. When we come together, we complement each other.”
Saura Jost’s deep roots in St. Paul, deep experience in engineering, and her deep commitment to excellence embody CEGE’s vision of inspired and innovative engineering for society. These characteristics auger good things for Jost’s beloved St. Paul.