SEQUIM — The city’s new planner brings an unusual set of experiences to his job.
Dennis Osborn of Vancouver, Wash., started work in Sequim this week, with the downtown revitalization plan, an update of Sequim’s Comprehensive Plan for growth, zoning reform and grant-seeking on his agenda.
He’s on a three-month contract with the possibility of a three-month extension, said City Manager Steve Burkett, who hired Osborn at a $7,500-per-month salary.
So with the downtown plan on his plate, what are Osborn’s first impressions of Sequim’s city center?
Turns out the place isn’t new to him.
“I grew up in Port Angeles,” Osborn said with a smile.
“I’m a Roughrider — but don’t say that. I’ll be hated,” he joked, winking at the old rivalry between Sequim High School and Port Angeles High.
Osborn graduated from Port Angeles High School in 1980, earned an urban planning degree at Western Washington University and went to work as community development director of Chelan and later Leavenworth.
He then joined the city of Battle Ground as planning director in 2002 and was promoted to city manager in 2006.
And in February, he was fired.
The City Council there made its move after Osborn terminated Police Chief James McDaniel in December.
According to The Columbian newspaper, McDaniel’s firing had brought on loud protests among Battle Ground residents, including street demonstrations complete with sign-waving Osborn opponents at busy intersections.
The police and public employees unions also blasted the manager, registering no-confidence votes in December.
A number of city staffers denounced Osborn in public, and the council said finally that it had lost confidence in his ability to lead the city, The Columbian reported.
Osborn was ultimately given a severance package that cost Battle Ground $95,000.
All of this didn’t bother Burkett in the least.
“City managers get fired once in a while,” he said.
Burkett considers Osborn highly qualified for his contract job, which he said replaces the capital projects manager position in Sequim’s Planning and Public Works Department.
Burkett laid off projects manager Frank Needham in May, saying Sequim has few capital projects under way while the City Council is placing much more emphasis on urban planning.
Burkett, himself pushed out of the city manager seat by the Shoreline City Council in 2005, succeeded fired Sequim City Manager Bill Elliott, whom the Sequim City Council terminated in May 2008.
And this past March, Burkett asked Sequim Police Chief Bob Spinks to leave.
It wasn’t officially a firing, but the city manager made it clear he didn’t consider Spinks the right man for his job any longer.
Yet “the two situations are not parallel,” Sequim Mayor Ken Hays said of the separate ousters involving Osborn, McDaniel, Burkett and Spinks.
Hays said earlier this week that he supports Burkett’s decision about Spinks.
And though the chief is well-liked in many circles, no council member has spoken out against the city manager’s desire to make a change.
In late May, the council unanimously approved a 10 percent salary-range increase for the next police chief.
Osborn, Hays added, is “enormously qualified” for his position as planning contractor.
According to his resume, Osborn facilitated construction of a community center and parks department in Battle Ground, developed ordinances to implement the Bavarian theme in Leavenworth, finished the comprehensive growth plan for that city, worked on an economic development plan for Chelan and a trails system plan around Lake Chelan, among other things.
Hiring Osborn for $22,500, or $45,000 if Burkett extends his contract, is “an incredible value,” Hays said.
“It’s by the luck of the draw, in many ways, that he’s available,” the mayor said.
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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.