PORT ANGELES — The Clallam Transit System Board on Friday unanimously voted to select Jim Fetzer as its next general manger after an interview and discussion held during a 35-minute closed-door executive meeting.
Fetzer had been acting general manager since July 3, after longtime general manager, Kevin Gallacci, retired at the end of June. Previous to this, Fetzer had been director of operations at the agency since 2019; he was the agency’s employee of the year in 2022.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed working here the last 4½ years,” Fetzer said. “I really, really think this is a great organization and I hope to try to just make it better. So, thank you for the confidence you put in me. I look forward to it.”
Board member Mark Ozias said the board was impressed with Fetzer’s approach to building on the agency’s successes.
“The way you were thinking about and your enthusiasm for adopting new technologies and the thoughtful way you presented that, there was a lot of positive feedback for the strategies and thoughts you expressed with regard to engaging citizens,” Ozias said.
“I really like the way that you are thinking about where the agency is today and what success looks like, with a more modernized, rebranded agency that’s better connected, hopefully, to the community that it’s serving.”
Board member Mike Fisher said Fetzer’s having worked at the agency was in his favor.
“I think a real great advantage on both sides was that we’ve already had a chance to get to know you, and at the board level you’ve had a chance to get to know us,” French said.
Board Chair Juanita Weissenfels said she especially liked Fetzer’s idea for imagining the agency less as a social service and more as a “jewel of the community.”
“I think that’s a great aspiration,” she said.
As the agency’s top executive, Fetzer will oversee 94 employees, a 2023 operating budget of $13.4 million and operations, maintenance, finance, and administrative services, as well as fixed-route and on-demand services and the vanpool.
Weissenfels and human resources manager Andy Rowlson will negotiate Fetzer’s contract and submit it to the board for approval at its next regular meeting on July 19. Fetzer’s salary as operations manager was $123,179.
Fetzer said that an overhaul of the agency wasn’t needed, because Gallacci had left it in solid financial health and with a first-rate workforce in place. However, he said he did want to attract a wider range of clients.
“We definitely do a good job providing services to lower income people, but I’d like to expand that a little more,” Fetzer said. “I think we’re already going in that direction with services like microtransit, Hurricane Ridge and the Strait Shot.”
Among the fine-turning Fetzer said he was considering were a rebranding effort that could involve freshening up the bus shelters and repainting the buses.
He also would like to establish a citizens transit advisory panel, which would need board approval.
Fetzer came to Clallam Transit after being director of maintenance at the LYNX bus service in Orlando, Fla. Previous to that, he was general manager at LeeTran in Fort Meyers, Fla., for five years. While he anticipated doing some fine-tuning, Fetzer said not to expect big changes at Clallam Transit in the near future.
“I’m walking to an agency that is in very, very good shape,” Fetzer said. “I’ve always come into organizations that needed to be fixed and that’s not the situation here.”
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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at 360-460-9696.
