PORT ANGELES — The public is invited to meet Wednesday with four finalists for the position held by Port Angeles Public Works and Utilities Director Glenn Cutler, who is retiring this summer.
The get-together with the candidates — none of whom is from the North Olympic Peninsula — is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Vern Burton Community Center at 308 E. Fourth St., next to City Hall.
Finalists for the position are Ellensburg Public Works Director John Akers, Bainbridge Island Public Works Director Lance Newkirk, Ruidoso, N.M., Public Works Director Randall Camp and Camp Lejeune, N.C., Marine Corps Base Facilities Director Craig Fulton.
“Our intent is to try to have someone on no later than the first part of August,” City Manager Dan McKeen said Monday.
“A lot will be dependent on their availability.
The candidates will be in Port Angeles for a series of interviews Wednesday and Thursday with McKeen, public works and utilities department managers, city department directors and a community panel.
On the community panel are former Port Angeles City Manager and Public Works Director David Flodstrom, Peninsula Housing Authority Executive Director Pam Tietz, former Olympic National Park Superintendent David Morris and Port Angeles engineer Steve Zenovic, president of Zenovic & Associates Inc.
The panel and individual interviews are not open to the public, McKeen said.
The new public works and utilities director will oversee an $88.7 million 2013 operations and capital budget for an 88-employee department that includes the city-owned electric utility.
There were 13 applicants, including one city employee, Maher Abed, the public works deputy director of operations who began at that position Jan. 29.
The salary range is $108,112-$129,205, compared with Cutler’s salary of $133,082, the second highest in city government.
Cutler, the former public works officer for Submarine Base Bangor, now a unit of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, and regional facilities director for Navy shore-based facilities in the Pacific Northwest, began working for the city of Port Angeles in June 1999.
His salary was increased in 2005 when the Parks and Recreation Department was incorporated into Public Works and Utilities.
Parks and Recreation was removed from public works in January.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
