PORT ANGELES — Clallam Transit System will begin the search for a new general manager next month after its board unanimously approved hiring an executive search firm to assist it with the process.
Karras Consulting Group will partner with the agency in casting a wide net to recruit as many qualified candidates as possible. Internal candidates also will be considered.
The board appointed operations manager Jason McNickle acting general manager in May; he assumed the role on Aug. 1 upon the retirement of general manager Jim Fetzer, whose last day was July 31.
The special committee tasked with managing the search process established an annual salary range of $160,000 to $185,000 for the position. That committee is composed of Clallam County commissioner and transit board chair Mark Ozias, Sequim City Council member Rachel Anderson, Forks City Council member Jeff Gingell and Port Angeles City Council member Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin.
Initial interviews with top candidates will be conducted virtually, with finalists interviewed in person.
“We want to make sure and have some sort of an open house or something similar so that staff and the public can interact with the candidate or candidates,” Ozias said. “We felt that that was a really important and helpful aspect of the process.”
Advertising for the position will start around Oct. 1, with an initial monthlong recruitment window.
Driver assault
A Sept. 9 assault on a driver at the intersection of Lincoln and First streets has the agency ramping up efforts to improve safety on buses.
Taron Lee, the agency’s acting operations manager, said passengers on the bus stepped up to intervene in the assault, and the suspect was quickly apprehended. The driver is now back at work.
“We want to be more proactive and figure out some further measures to eliminate the possibility of this happening again,” McNickle said.
Last year, the agency began de-escalation training to equip drivers with skills needed to manage crisis situations on their routes.
Maintenance manager Gary Abrams said he had been getting quotes on the cost of retrofitting the agency’s fleet with safety partitions that separate drivers and passengers.
Rick Burton, a transit operator who sits as a non-voting member on the board, said the city and county representatives who comprise the nine-member body should keep in mind what he said was the root of threats to safety.
“We can do whatever we have to do with barriers and to protect ourselves with de-escalation training,” Burton said. “The problem is, we have a homeless problem, and we have a health problem. That’s the issue.”
At the suggestion of Schromen-Wawrin, the board will discuss at a future meeting the possibility of appointing up to two non-elected members to the board. A new state statute, RCW 36.57A.050, which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2026, allows adding two voting members who are transit users to the governing bodies of public transportation benefit areas.
One of the individuals must primarily rely on public transit for transportation and the other must represent a community organization and who occasionally uses public transit.
Board members Kate Dexter and Mike French agreed that revising the composition of the board in light of the new law is a good idea.
In other news, the agency is planning a party for all staff to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the agency on Oct. 13. Clallam Transit began operations on that date in 1980.
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached my email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.
