PORT ANGELES — Dan Engelbertson’s wears size 12 footwear, but filling his shoes could present an even larger task.
Engelbertson will leave public service June 30 after 25 years as a Clallam County deputy sheriff and five years as county administrator.
The county commissioners who are his bosses say replacing him may be the biggest decision they’ll face in 2006.
The lanky, affable, 55-year-old Engelbertson is jocularly called the fourth county commissioner or the mayor of Clallam County, titles that make the self-effacing executive wince.
But, joking aside, he has guided county government out of a 1980s practice of managing by memos to an operation with clear, codified policies.
He also has helped extinguish the practice of playing one county commissioner against another to secure pet projects.
All the while, he has won and kept the trust of most county employees, elected officials and citizens. He’s done so largely by making tough administrative decisions, explaining them forthrightly and sticking to them.
Working with the commissioners, he performed the seemingly magical feat of trimming the county payroll without cutting deeply into services.
An information-technology aficionado, Engelbertson performed the trick by giving computers some of government’s most tedious tasks.
March 17 will be the last day people can apply to replace him. The job will pay $89,412 to $108,940 a year, depending on qualifications.
At least one county department head has indicated he wants the job, but hasn’t officially applied.
Commissioners say they’ll also consider outsiders. As of last week, five people — all strangers to Clallam County government — had filed confidential applications.
