SEQUIM – On James Bay’s watch, Sequim metamorphosed from a sleepy town into a place where new subdivisions, roads and stores spring up like corn- and beanstalks.
This week, the city Public Works director announced he’ll retire on April 25 – after the roundabout at Costco Wholesale is done, and after the Clallam County Master Gardeners have mapped out their demo garden at the city’s Water Reuse Demonstration Site.
The 29-acre park, home to the James Center band shell, is one among many of Bay’s accomplishments, Sequim City Manager Bill Elliott said Wednesday.
The Water Reuse Site is “still a statewide poster child, an example of what can be done” in water reclamation, added Elliott, who came to Sequim just as the park was being finished in 2001.
Bay, 63, hasn’t been one, however, who seeks the media spotlight. He didn’t return repeated calls for comment on Wednesday.
He was hired as the city’s street supervisor in March 1988.
By 1996 he’d been promoted to chief of Public Works, from roads and traffic signals to sewer and park care.
