SEQUIM — Just as the dust seemed to be settling, Sequim is about to lose a key city department head.
Ben Rankin, who took the post of public works director in late June, has resigned, Sequim’s new city manager, Steve Burkett, announced Monday.
Rankin, who moved to Sequim from Clemson, S.C., where he was the city engineer for many years, decided the new job wasn’t the right match for him, Burkett said.
“I know this is not good news for the department, given the lack of leadership and stability over the last one-and-a-half years,” Burkett said in a statement.
Rankin was rec-ruited by Waldron & Co., the Seattle search firm Sequim paid $18,000 to find a new public works chief after James Bay retired in April 2008. His salary is $83,000.
Rankin, who Burkett said went to South Carolina for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, could not be reached for comment Monday.
He was still in transit back to Sequim, Burkett said; Wednesday will be his last day of work here.
Rankin informed Burkett of his decision about two weeks ago, the city manager said.
Burkett, himself in his seventh week at Sequim’s helm, said he’s already in the process of interviewing candidates for interim public works director.
He called the applicants well-qualified, and said he found them by talking with search firms including Waldron & Co. and Prothman, a Bellevue-based recruiter. If a candidate identified by one of those firms is hired, Sequim will pay a recruiting fee, Burkett said.
Once an interim director is found, Burkett will return to another process that’s been going on for many months: reorganizing Sequim’s Planning and Public Works departments. He’s weighing the benefits of hiring a community development director instead of a permanent Public Works boss.
A community development chief would direct a consolidated Planning and Public Works office, Burkett said.
While Public Works is the city’s largest department — with about 20 workers and an annual budget of some $16 million — the planning staff consists of just two: director Dennis Lefevre and associate planner Joe Irvin. And since the Sequim City Council is especially concerned about planning issues, Burkett said he may look at allocating more resources to that side.
Meantime, the Public Works Department will have its hands full, with the ongoing expansion of the city’s water reclamation facility, repairs to the Olympic Discovery Trail leg east of Whitefeather Way and forthcoming work on sidewalks and roads. The latter will be paid for by the two-tenths of one cent sales tax increase approved by Sequim voters in the Nov. 3 election.
The sales tax hike, which will go into effect in April, is aimed at funding numerous street projects over the coming decade.
Sequim Mayor Laura Dubois lamented Rankin’s departure, saying Monday that she considered him a good influence on the Public Works Department. Rankin had been working on prioritizing the many projects on the city’s plate, she said.
Dubois added that Burkett, whom the City Council hired after a 19-month hunt for a city manager, has ample experience with hiring staff and streamlining departments. Before taking the Sequim post Oct. 19, he’d run cities from Shoreline to Tallahassee, Fla.
“We have great confidence in Steve,” she 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.
