SEQUIM — The new Sequim city manager is rolling up his sleeves to take on challenges facing the city.
Charlie Bush, 40, said his immediate and primary goals are to sit down with city staffers, council members and area residents to develop road map for the future.
“The biggest goal up front is just to listen and learn the community and try to get effective partnerships with people out there,” he said Tuesday.
“I am not coming in with a long list of things I think need to be done. It is more about what are the needs of the community?”
Bush moved to Sequim from Issaquah, where he served as the city’s development services director.
He began work in Sequim on Aug. 17. His annual salary is $120,000.
Bush replaces Steve Burkett, who had served as city manager since October 2009. Burkett retired June 30.
Craig Ritchie, Sequim city attorney, was appointed by the council to act as interim city manager from July 1 through Aug. 16.
Bush was one of six final candidates who applied for the position.
Over the next several months, Bush said he will be forming “more crystallized opinions based on all the outreach, and I will have some things to offer to the conversation that will be a little more concrete.”
The City Council “already has some established goals” he will prioritize, he said — “things like funding infrastructure and making investments in some of the older neighborhoods here in the downtown area.”
Those issues “are all things I think are well thought-out, very strategic, and I am excited to get involved,” he said.
City Council goals include considering the formation of a “broad based” metropolitan park district, formulating a budget for the next fiscal year, pursuing the construction of more parking at Albert Haller Playfields, finding funding sources to keep the Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center open and putting the finishing touches on the new Civic Center, Bush said.
Immediate attention
“There are a few items that need more immediate attention like the metropolitan park district,” he said.
City officials continue to explore the possibility of placing a citywide metropolitan park district on the February ballot.
It renewed the idea after SARC tried and failed to pass a similar measure to finance only the center’s operation.
The deadline to file for the special election is Dec. 11.
The city has been considering the creation of a metropolitan park district since mid-2010, according to Ritchie.
The district would be within the boundaries of the Clallam County portion of the Sequim School District.
Getting the public to support the formation of a new metropolitan park district could prove challenging, Bush said.
“People need to feel like they are getting a really good value before they put money into it. There is clearly some resistance to property taxes,” he said.
Clearly, there is a “need to change strategy and approach in how we are communicating and talking about these things, if we are going to get a different outcome,” he added.
Keep SARC open
Forming a new park district would go hand-in-hand with keeping SARC open.
The facility at 610 N. Fifth Ave. has just six months of projected funding available, according to its board.
“It is obviously an asset to the community,” Bush said.
“That is pretty clear to me. It is a longstanding operation, so the question is, how do you assist that?”
The city “has a role in that discussion, and I will be meeting with those folks . . . and we will go from there,” he said.
“I would certainly like to be helpful in that discussion.”
And Bush is “confident that no matter what — whether it is an MPD or something else — we are going to come out with a laundry list of good partnership opportunities for this,” he said.
“Hopefully, through that process, we can leverage the resources of the community.”
Bush has a bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg University and a master’s degree from Syracuse University.
He has 17 years’ experience working for local government and was previously the development services director for the city of Issaquah.
He had previously served in Glendale, Ariz.; Phoenix; Bellevue; and Prosser.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
