SEQUIM — Sequim’s busy Public Works Department is temporarily without a leader in the wake of interim director Bill Bullock’s resignation.
“Good opportunities came up,” Bullock said on Tuesday.
He added that he’s going into consulting in Burlington, Skagit County, but declined to comment on his time with the city, which began in January 2007, when he was hired as city engineer.
Bullock was appointed interim public works director about a year ago by then-interim City Manager and Police Chief Robert Spinks, soon after the May 5 firing of City Manager Bill Elliott and the April 25 retirement of longtime public works chief James Bay.
Bullock’s annual salary was $78,666, which included a 10 percent raise from his salary as city engineer.
Bullock’s last day was May 15, said Linda Herzog, Sequim’s current interim city manager.
He’s had his hands full with Sequim’s expanding water reclamation facility, road and Olympic Discovery Trail plans and various hoped-for projects such as soccer fields and an expanded James Center for the Performing Arts next to Carrie Blake Park.
Then there’s the city’s latest land purchase, the 45-acre Keeler Memorial Park alongside U.S. Highway 101 at Happy Valley Road. It’s supposed to become a wildlife refuge with trails and restrooms, but the city has had scant staff time and money to make such amenities happen.
New director
Herzog hired Ben Rankin, city engineer in Clemson, S.C., as Sequim’s new public works director.
He’ll start at $83,000 a year but won’t arrive here until late June.
When asked who’ll pilot the public works ship until then, Herzog said Bullock left a list of about 10 projects that already have been reassigned.
Among them are Washington Street sidewalk improvements funded by a $170,000 economic stimulus grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
“Bullock shepherded this project,” Herzog said, which includes installation of wheelchair ramps and driveways on stretches of east and west Washington.
Another pressing project is the design of the Pitship Pocket Estuary bridge over West Sequim Bay Road.
The bridge, to replace an undersized culvert near John Wayne Marina, will ease fish passage through the critical waterway, North Olympic Salmon Coalition officials have said.
When Rankin arrives in his new position, he may redistribute project duties, Herzog said.
Meantime, Utilities Manager Pete Tjemsland is shouldering much of the public works load. He wasn’t available for comment Tuesday.
“As you can imagine, we are all struggling with keeping up the work of the unfilled positions,” Karen Goschen, city administrative services director, wrote in an e-mail late Monday night.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
