SEQUIM — At first glance, it might look as if Sequim City Manager Steve Burkett is cleaning house.
Seven staff members — almost 10 percent of the city work force — has left since Burkett took the helm.
Bob Spinks, Sequim’s former police chief and one of the seven departed ones, pointed this out last week in a lengthy written statement.
Burkett had asked Spinks to seek other employment last March, saying he was no longer the right man for the chief post.
But as is usually the case, the story of the seven departures isn’t as simple as its surface.
And though Burkett said he preferred not to get into a verbal “mud wrestling” match with Spinks, he did answer questions about staff turnover on his watch.
There have been three layoffs, including Capital Projects Manager Frank Needham, whose last day was May 31.
Needham spent five years in the Planning Department, searching for a new City Hall site, working on Sequim’s Comprehensive Plan and other projects.
Also gone May 31 was Dennis Perkon, one of the city’s two building inspectors.
He was laid off, Burkett said, because homebuilding in Sequim is down 80 percent.
During the boom of 2006, hundreds of houses and apartments were being permitted in Sequim.
In 2009, just 12 single-family-home building permits were issued, Burkett added.
“We never like to lay anybody off,” he said, “but we didn’t have enough work to pay two building inspectors.”
Similarly, the city doesn’t have significant capital projects under way; hence Needham’s layoff.
Chip Smith, an information technology support technician, was laid off March 26 after Karen Goschen, the Sequim administrative services director, reorganized her department.
“We were not doing as many IT projects, and I needed more support in finance,” said Goschen.
“I eliminated an IT position and added an accounting assistant/customer service rep position,” filled by Leanne Klienschmidt, who started June 16.
Laurie Ann Munn, an administrative assistant at Planning & Public Works, resigned to move out of the area as of July 2. Connie Anderson, the city’s longtime accounting projects manager, also moved away.
Back in December, Public Works Director Ben Rankin left after just a few months here.
Burkett said Rankin told him he was “man enough” to admit the job wasn’t for him; in March, Burkett hired current public works chief Paul Haines.
Now Sequim lists the $48,000 to $72,000-per-year accounting manager job, the $17.10 to $20.31-per-hour administrative assistant position and the police chief opening on its website, www.ci.sequim.wa.us, as well as a new one: marketing communications manager.
The 30-hours-per-week job, newly approved by the City Council, pays up to $40,000 per year plus benefits.
Another added expense for Sequim is a salary-range increase for Spinks’ successor.
The City Council, in a unanimous vote, endorsed Burkett’s proposal to boost the police chief pay 10 percent, bringing the range to $80,000 to $106,000.
That, along with Spinks’ departure July 2, stirred a public dustup. Sequim area residents have written letters to the editor and spoken up at City Council meetings, expressing support for Spinks and questioning the pay hike that he won’t enjoy.
Yet at least two members of the City Council — Mayor Ken Hays and the long-serving Bill Huizinga — are steadfast in their support of the city manager.
“This isn’t about whether [Spinks] is a good guy or not,” Hays has said. “Steve is trying to elevate the city to another level of operation.”
Huizinga added that Burkett has faced a financially strapped city amid a deep recession and had the grit to make staffing changes that, of course, weren’t popular with everybody.
“Steve, I think, had enough nerve to take the reins,” Huizinga said.
He didn’t agree, however, with Burkett’s decision to replace Spinks.
“I think the chief was doing a good job,” he said.
“But the guy’s the city manager, and he has to have some support.”
As for the chief’s salary increase, “I was pushing for that for Bob [Spinks] three years ago. . . . You’ve got to be on par with other cities.”
The city manager is at the same time “trying to stay within budget. And he and I agree on one thing: We’re not done with this crash. People’s unemployment benefits are running out,” Huizinga added.
“We’re in for a long haul.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.