— by Margie Doyle —
Sam Gibboney, seated at left, speaks to the County Council on Orcas Island in Feb.2012. To her left is former Public Works Director Frank Mulcahy.
At its Oct. 20 meeting, the San Juan County Council agreed to proceed with a reorganization of the county Public Works and the Community Development and Planning infrastructure. County Manager Mike Thomas said, “The changes are being driven by a continuing effort to examine the form and function of departments, the services they provide, Council adopted initiatives, and available resources. ”
Sam Gibboney, the director of Community Development and Planning, will move over tothe Public Works Department as Deputy Director of Environmental Resources. As such, she will be responsible for solid waste and stormwater, and other natural resource projects. Gibboney will oversee the upcoming projects and with $12,000,000 in stormwater projects on Orcas Island and in Lopez Village, “We thought was important to adjust the line up,” said Council Member Rick Hughes.
Gibboney has served as Solid Waste Coordinator for the county before being assigned as County Development and Planning Director. The changes are scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2016
Community Development and Planning will then focus in a more limited fashion on building and planning, according to Hughes. Erica Shook, former Community Development Director from Enumclaw, Wash., will replace Sam Gibboney as head of Community Development and Planning.
According to Thomas, “These changes will help move the organization toward achieving what is expected by Council and the citizens of San Juan County.
In other council news, there will be a special meeting of the Council to which the public is invited on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 9 a.m. at the Legislative Hearing Room in Friday Harbor. The meeting is an additional work session for the council to draft what the public process will look like for the Shoreline Master Plan Update. Currently, the first public hearing on the Shoreline plan is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 30. To see documents related to the SMP, go to sanjuanco.com/smpdocs
Council members hope to finalize the Eastsound Subarea Plan (ESAP) and the Shoreline Master Plan at its Dec. 15 meeting, Hughes said.
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i am interested to hear the process that the county used to search for the new department heads. It is more than a little concerning that we have a surprise shake-up of departments with a hiring from the same former jurisdiction as the current county manager. Also that the director of CD&P, after what was only a short stint on the job, has been shuffled off to another position putting CD&P under yet another leader.
Community Development and Planning has been under a slow self-destruction for the past decade, with little to no consistency of administration and a constant redirection/lack of direction from both the Council and County Administrator. Hopefully this time the Council did an exhaustive search to bring in the absolute best leader who has the capability to pick up the pieces and help build and retain a staff that can actually move CD&P forward.