SEQUIM — A man from a village on Lake Chelan is to be Sequim’s new public works director, who will lead the city’s largest department with its $16 million annual budget.
Paul Haines, 56, was pursued by Sequim City Manager Steve Burkett for not only his technical skills as a professional engineer, Burkett said, but also his talent for building relationships.
Asked what his most urgent job will be at his new post, which he will begin April 19, Haines replied without hesitating: “Get to know people” he’ll be working with.
The new director’s salary is still under discussion, said Burkett, adding it will be near the top of the advertised $80,000 to $106,000 range.
Haines will have abundant opportunities to shape the Sequim of the present and future.
He’ll work with the City Council on downtown revitalization plans, with the state on Sequim’s water reclamation plant expansion and with city planners and residents to add amenities to the town’s parks, trails and street system.
Haines’ most recent position was as public works manager at Holden Village, a large retreat center — about as big as a town, with a hotel, school and shops – in the Cascades above Lake Chelan.
Worked together in Shoreline
He spent four years there, after working for Burkett from 2002 through 2006 in Shoreline in King County.
Burkett was manager while Haines was public works director of that city, whose population then was 53,000.
Burkett said he knew Haines had the management style he wants for Sequim, while Haines said one reason he wants to move to Sequim is because its council chose Burkett to be its city manager.
Sequim, Haines added, is a place where he feels his abilities will be put to good use.
“The breadth of my experience has been in rapidly growing communities,” he said Saturday while attending the City Council’s annual retreat.
Before Shoreline, Haines worked in Battle Ground, Clark County, which swelled from 3,000 to 11,000 people between 1997 and 2002.
As Sequim residents well know, this town was likewise mushrooming fast a few years ago, but that ground to a virtual halt amid the recession.
Such slowdowns, Haines said, provide time for city leaders to reflect and regroup.
Burkett, for his part, said Haines is a flexible, open-minded manager who seeks creative solutions.
“He’s not the typical linear thinker,” Burkett said.
“The other key thing is that the Public Works Department has suffered from a leadership void. The morale of the department has diminished over the last couple of years,” since longtime Public Works chief James Bay retired in April 2008.
Hiring the right leader
“It’s my job,” Burkett said, “to build that back up,” by hiring the right leader.
The city’s Public Works and Planning departments, housed in a rented building on Fifth Avenue, have traveled a rough road since Bay left.
First Jeff Robb, now the executive director of the Port of Port Angeles, was chosen as public works director. But in early 2008 he changed his mind and stayed at the port.
City Engineer Bill Bullock became interim director; he left after a few months.
Next Ben Rankin, city engineer of Clemson, S.C., was hired; he came to work in June and resigned in November to move back to the South.
Since December, Jim Pemberton, a professional interim public works director, has been holding things together.
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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.
