OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK – Sue McGill will once again take the reins of Olympic National Park as a new superintendent is sought.
The deputy superintendent also headed the park as the acting superintendent in 2003 before Bill Laitner was hired to replace David Morris as the park’s leader.
Laitner officially retired on Thursday, Barb Maynes, spokeswoman for Olympic National Park, said.
McGill was hired in November 2002, just a couple months before becoming acting superintendent upon Morris’ Jan. 27, 2003, resignation when he joined the Peace Corps.
She was in the head position until May when Laitner began his tenure at the park.
The position for a new superintendent has not yet been posted at www.usajobs.gov – the official Web site for federal jobs.
“It will be posted for several weeks, and then there will be several months of them going through the interview and selection process,” Maynes said.
Jonathan B. Jarvis, National Park regional director, who is based in Oakland, Calif., will determine who will take the post as superintendent of ONP.
McGill could not be reached for comment on Sunday.
The job will pay between $107,962 and $140,355 annually, Maynes said.
The salary is based on years of service to the federal government, qualifications and a few other criteria, Maynes said.
McGill, a Seattle native, is a 1976 graduate of Washington State University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in recreation and park administration.
McGill came to Olympic from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, where she was chief of maintenance for seven years.
There, she had oversight of more than 300 miles of roads, 800 miles of trails and approximately 170 permanent and seasonal maintenance employees.
McGill began her National Park Service career in 1976 as a volunteer at Mount Rainier National Park.
She has worked in 12 National Park Service areas, including Capulin Mountain National Monument in New Mexico, Everglades National Park in Florida and Glacier National Park in Montana.
McGill served as superintendent at Timpanogos Cave National Monument in Utah and spent two years in Washington, D.C., working in the park service’s office of legislative and congressional affairs, and with the U.S. Senate Natural Resources Committee as a legislative fellow.
Laitner announced his retirement in early November, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family and enjoying the park as a visitor.
Laitner worked on many projects including the General Management Plan – which will guide the course of the park for the next couple decades and should be released early this year.
