PORT TOWNSEND — The city’s community services director is leaving his position at the end of the month, but his departure is not only a concern for the community services division.
Rick Sepler’s wife, Mary, is in her third year as principal at Grant Street Elementary School.
Port Townsend School District Superintendent David Engle said Mary will be hard to replace, but the district has enough time to make a good selection.
She will remain in her position for the current school year, during which time the couple will visit each other on alternate weekends, Rick said.
Engle said he doesn’t want to start the replacement process too soon, but when it begins, community members will be involved in the selection.
“I don’t want this to tie up our attention all year, but we will get everyone involved,” he said.
“We will include the parents and the teachers so they can define who they want.”
Engle said he wasn’t sure which current school employees have principal credentials.
Rick Sepler gave notice earlier this month that he will resign effective at month’s end, leaving the post he has held for eight½ years to become the Bellingham city planning and community development director.
“I love Port Townsend and plan to return here for my retirement,” Sepler said Monday.
“But I’ve always wanted to become part of a major planning organization, which is the pinnacle of what I can do in this profession.”
Sepler, 58, said that Bellingham is similar to Port Townsend with a high quality of life and uncertainty about its preservation as the community grows.
With a municipal population of 82,810 as of April, according to the state Office of Financial Management, the Bellingham area is as big as a planning job that exists “before the non-planners take over,” he said.
Port Townsend’s population was 9,210 in 2013, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
He will manage 40 people and a $14 million budget in Bellingham.
In his position in Port Townsend, Sepler supervises 18 employees in the city’s community services division, which is composed of development services, planning, parks and pool, fleet and facilities departments.
“I deserve the chance to work at the top of my profession,” Sepler said.
“I am not running away from Port Townsend; rather I am moving for a great opportunity.”
Sepler said he wants to serve in one more position before retiring.
In Port Townsend, Sepler earns $95,076 per year; in Bellingham, he will earn $131,508.
He previously had an interest in the Port Townsend city manager position if current manager David Timmons were to retire, but that is unlikely to occur any sooner than in five years.
If Sepler waits, he will be too old to take full advantage of a new opportunity, he said.
The Seplers will not sell or rent out their house, where they plan to return when they retire, he said.
“This isn’t the best time for us for Rick to leave due to the upcoming comprehensive plan and the budget,” Timmons said.
“But you gotta go when you gotta go.”
Timmons said he is planning a strategy for Sepler’s replacement this week, which could include the redefinition of the job or installing an interim planning director in advance of a more permanent replacement.
One possibility is to move the parks department and equipment management out of Sepler’s purview and back into the Public Works Department while making the position into a more traditional planning director job.
“The most important thing facing us over the next few years will be the development of the [comprehensive] plan, so we will need someone who is well versed in that field,” he said.
“We will need to take control of that process; otherwise, it has the potential of controlling us.”
Aside from Sepler’s replacement, Timmons is also involved in the selection of a new library director and three police officers.
About 20 people applied for the library job, and that number will be narrowed down to five or six finalists sometime in November, he said.
The city also has about 20 possibilities to fill the three patrol positions, he said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
