City manager provides update in annual State of City address

Published 3:30 pm Wednesday, March 11, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Port Angeles City Manager Nathan West wants citizens to contribute to their community.

West issued a challenge to attendees at Wednesday’s State of the City address during the Port Angeles Chamber of Commerce meeting at Field Arts & Events Hall.

“Reach out to your friends, family and others in the community that you’re aware of that are out there behind their computer screens making negative comments about our community, and challenge them to take that energy and convert it to action on behalf of our community,” West said. “Let’s get out from behind those screens and make sure we’re actually contributing.”

West’s presentation was designed to give an update on what the city did during 2025 and preview some actions coming up in 2026.

Last year, the city’s major revenue sources saw small increases while holding steady.

Property tax increased 0.15 percent from $5,100,524 to $5,108,068 while sales tax increased 3.54 percent from $4,884,725 to $5,057,414. Those are the city’s two primary sources of revenue.

“We have had a mountain of debt for a very long time,” West said while showing a graph which showed how the city has reduced debt by more than $69 million. “That’s a really amazing move for this small community and for your small city of Port Angeles.”

The city has worked to simplify the building permit process, resulting in 529 permits being issued in 2025. Those permits represent more than $80 million in investments, West said.

Port Angeles has, for two straight years, exceeded state and national averages when it comes to housing price increases.

City staff compares Port Angeles to 15 other cities of similar size within the state. Compared to those cities, Port Angeles has seen a 58 percent increase in median income from 2014 to 2024.

Only six of them exceeded Port Angeles’ increase.

Port Angeles also is the fifth lowest when it comes to utility rates compared with those cities.

While discussing workforce stability, West announced that, as of Jan. 1, the Port Angeles Fire Department, Port Angeles Police Department and Peninsula Communications (Pencom) are all fully staffed. The city’s Light Operations team in the Public Works & Utilities department also is fully staffed. The city started 2026 with just five staff vacancies.

Port Angeles’ top challenges are public safety funding, criminal justice, aging infrastructure, growing the city’s tax base and long-term budget and addressing camping and enforcement.

In 2025, Port Angeles accomplished many goals, West said.

Under community resilience, those include a third year in the City Shade program through which the city has planted more than 400 trees since the program launched in 2023.

Another accomplishment was improvements at Lincoln Park. The city partnered with North Olympic Baseball and Softball to host the first state tournament at Lincoln Park in 20 years due to those improvements, which included road enhancements, added parking, ADA restrooms, a new scoreboard and field upgrades.

The Parks & Recreation Department has emphasized health and wellness with a Boys & Girls Club Summer Lunch Program at Erickson Playfield and Shane Park, and by offering free recreational opportunities for local youth in partnership with Peninsula College and the Port Angeles School District.

Last year, the city council adopted a 10-year comprehensive plan, which was a coordinated effort across city departments and works to balance diverse priorities to best reflect the community’s vision for the future. The comprehensive plan includes the Housing Action Plan and a citywide rezone.

The three biggest crimes in 2025 were larceny, destruction/vandalism and simple assault. Overall, crime went down last year with 514 adult arrests compared with 671 in 2025 and 554 in 2023.

The fire department saw a 2.86 percent increase in calls compared to 2024 with the rate of calls per firefighter remaining high at 251.

In 2025, the city’s Housing Department received an Implementation Award from both the Planning Association of Washington and from the American Planning Association of Washington. Over the past few years, the city has given 20 multifamily tax exemptions, waived $188,560 in building permit fees and distributed $96,750 in affordable housing grants.

The city also implemented Senate Bill 5290, which updated permitting procedures, tracking and monitoring and ensures compliance while improving permit predictability and transparency.

This year, the city has several projects planned. One is the A Street Basin, which will increase sewer capacity in constrained areas of the city for additional development and for which the city has received $1.393 million in grants.

Another is the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe sewer project, which will add new infrastructure and benefit hundreds of acres of industrial and commercially zoned property in Clallam County.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.