SEQUIM — Sequim’s capital projects manager is being laid off, City Manager Steve Burkett said Monday, because he no longer fits the community’s needs.
Frank Needham, in charge of capital projects for the past five years, was given two weeks’ notice as of Monday, and will “be doing some transition-type work,” Burkett added.
Needham joins Police Chief Robert Spinks, who also has been told to find a job elsewhere (see related story on home page).
No comment
Reached on his cell phone Monday afternoon, Needham declined to comment.
Burkett called Needham’s position a “mismatch” with the direction Sequim is headed.
“We don’t have a lot of capital projects right now,” the city manager said.
What Sequim does face is a horizon full of question marks when it comes to urban planning and design.
“We have a downtown plan,” Burkett said — or at least a plan to hire a consultant later this year to help the city reinvent its center.
Then there’s the shoreline master plan, a parks master plan and forthcoming revisions in the Sequim Comprehensive Plan, the blueprint for the next 20 years of development and preservation.
Urban design
Meanwhile, the city has just two people with urban design backgrounds: Planning Director Dennis Lefevre and Associate Planner Joe Irvin.
“I’ve been assessing our organizational structure and finances,” Burkett said, “and trying to match our staff and resources with the jobs that have to get done.”
Needham has spent much of the past five years searching for and evaluating potential sites for a new City Hall.
Burkett said finding the right site is still a top priority and added he’s deeply engaged in the hunt.
Needham, in his tenure, has evaluated some 70 possible locations, the city manager said.
At the same time, Burkett is looking for a planner who will help him guide Sequim through its next growth phase.
When that phase will begin is an open question, dependent largely on the nation’s economic condition.
Burkett, however, said he may ask the City Council to fund another permanent city planner position in 2011.
“I’ll probably try and find somebody in the interim,” he added, “with a background in planning and urban design, on a contractual basis.”
Different position
Needham’s capital projects manager post, in which he earned an annual salary of $74,963 plus benefits, will most likely give way to a different kind of staff position, Burkett said.
The city manager said he e-mailed the members of the City Council on Monday afternoon about the layoff, but Mayor Ken Hays said he was on the road and had yet to read the news.
He acknowledged that as city manager, Burkett customarily makes such decisions without input from the council.
Burkett’s assertion that Needham’s job no longer matched Sequim’s priorities “makes sense,” Hays added.
“I would support that, not knowing any more about it,” he said.
Hays praised Burkett for “working hard” and for being proactive in the search for a site for a new City Hall, an estimated $10 million structure the council and staff agree has been sorely needed for many years.
The council brought Burkett, former manager of cities from Shoreline near Seattle to Fort Collins, Colo., to Tallahassee, Fla., on board back in October.
Since then, he’s been proactive about other staff positions, hiring Public Works Director Paul Haines in early March and this month urging Police Chief Robert Spinks to find another job.
The two bosses have differences in style and approach, Burkett said, adding he hopes Spinks will find a police chief post in another city before the end of May.
Spinks, Sequim’s top law enforcer for five years, was recently a finalist for jobs in Lebanon, Ore., Pullman and West Richland, and has said he’s “aggressively” seeking police chief positions elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest.
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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.
