Jefferson: First day on the job, new county administrator writes a memo

PORT TOWNSEND — Finding something that stands out as a notable achievement is difficult to do after only one day on the job, but Jefferson County’s new administrator has one.

“I wrote a memo,” John Fischbach said Tuesday morning as he continued to ease his way into the top appointed position in county government.

“I haven’t done that for several years.”

Fischbach, successor to David Goldsmith, who retired last week, found having fewer people on his staff allows him to be more “hands-on” than he was during nine years as city manager of Fort Collins, Colo.

Fort Collins employed 1,700 people, and Fischbach said he was insulated from doing things like writing memos to staff.

“There was a deputy and two assistant city managers,” Fischbach said Tuesday as he worked out of a briefcase at a small table in his spacious office in the courthouse.

“I didn’t realize how much I missed doing the hands-on stuff,” Fischbach said.

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