SEQUIM – Sequim City Council members have narrowed their search for Sequim’s next city manager to five on a list that interim city manager Charisse Deschenes includes with four foreign applicants.
Council members voted for an interview with the five candidates in September at their special session on Thursday. Interviews are for 9-10 September planned.
The public is invited to a virtual reception via Zoom to meet the candidates for the position of Sequim City Manager next Thursday, September 9th at 6pm.
The meeting can be joined at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81744790068 or by calling 1-253-215-8782 using the meeting ID 817 4479 0068.
The reception includes a brief introduction to the candidates, followed by breakout rooms where residents can chat with individual candidates.
For more information on the candidates, see sequimwa.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID = 1169.
Candidates are (in alphabetical order):
• Patrick Comiskey, City Manager for Cambridge, Md., A city of 12,375 residents, since 2018.
Before that, he was City Manager for Thomaston, Georgia, (residents 8,962) for 14 years and City Manager in Wellsburg, W.Va., (residents 2,810) for four years.
Comiskey said he “enjoys bringing people together to work on a problem and then stepping back and allowing the group to work out solutions,” a press release said.
Comiskey sees his greatest accomplishment to date in developing the Lake Thomaston Reservoir in Georgia.
This was a multi-million dollar project that required the acquisition of land, the issuance of a public bond, and working with engineers, biologists, state regulators, the Army Corps of Engineers, neighboring landowners, the state power company, the railroad, and two different general contractors, according to the press release.
The multi-year project that resulted in the city having a half-billion gallon reservoir that isolated the city from late summer droughts.
Comiskey holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Florida, a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in accounting from Middle Georgia State University, and a master’s degree in public administration from West Virginia University.
View Comiskey’s résumé here.
• Charisse Deschenes, interim city manager of the city of Sequim and city worker since 2014.
Her previous roles at Sequim included positions as Senior Planner, Assistant to the City Manager and Assistant City Manager. Before joining Sequim, she was a consultant for one year and worked for 10 years in the planning department of Olathe, Kan., (Population 128,050), the last two years as a senior planner.
According to a press release from the city, Deschenes describes her management style with the current team as “providing the support they need to do their best work”.
She said one of her greatest achievements was a Service Fest event in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity and other local organizations. The event lasted two weeks and hosted Habitat Caravanners – skilled volunteers who travel everywhere to help build houses. They were able to place 16 caravanners in Sequim to work on private property improvements for residents who meet certain income requirements. Through neighborhood meetings, parishioners indicated which service projects were needed in the entire public space. The city, Habitat and other volunteers were working on the service projects across the city, the statement said.
Deschenes holds a bachelor’s degree in park and resource management from Kansas State University and an executive master’s degree in business administration from Benedictine College. Additionally, she completed 86 hours for a Masters Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Eastern Washington University.
See Deschenes’ curriculum vitae here.
• Jeff Durbin is interim city manager for Frisco, Colorado, (population 3,116). Prior to that, he worked for Fraser, Colorado (population 1,532) for 20 years, the last 16 years as a city manager. Previously, he was the community development manager for Plainfield, Illinois (13665) for six years.
According to the City of Sequim press release, Durbin describes his leadership style as collaborative – “He believes in people and relationships. “As a manager, he realizes that he has to make difficult decisions and is not afraid to make these decisions.”
Durbin said one achievement he saw in Fraser as a city manager was strengthening its strong financial position through tough decisions as the city expected sales to decline 40 percent with no reserves, the city news release said.
Durbin holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental design from the University of Colorado and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Michigan State University.
View Durbin’s résumé here.
• Matt Huish has been Chief Administrative Officer of Sandy, Utah, (96,127 residents) since 2018. Prior to that, he was the Administrative Director of the University of Utah for 14 years.
“Experience has taught Mr. Huish how important it is to build strong teams and to listen openly to all points of view in order to find the best solution,” said the city’s press release.
Huish said his greatest achievement at Sandy was “using change management to create an innovative environment so that they can better achieve their new set of values, mission, vision and core values,” according to the press release.
“One aspect was the implementation of smart city technology. The result is improved, more efficient municipal services and increased service for customers (employees, citizens, companies). At the same time, they have reduced costs. Now Sandy’s activities better mirror those of corporate organizations. ”
Huish holds a bachelor’s degree in physical therapy from the University of Puget Sound and a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Utah. He has also completed some coursework for a Masters Degree in Health Administration from Chapman University.
View Huish’s résumé here.
• Joe Lessard is currently self-employed; Prior to that, he was Senior Planning Director at Knudson for 11 years and Assistant City Manager in Austin, Texas (578,608 residents) for nine years. He also worked for the City of Dallas, Texas (population 1 million) for four years, the final two years as the City Manager’s Assistant.
“He fulfills his management responsibility by visibly modeling the values that he articulates and wants from employees and larger organizations, according to the city’s press release. “He motivates the employees by giving every team member the opportunity to get involved.”
Lessard said the professional achievement he was most proud of was the successful planning and implementation of the Balcones Canyonland Conservation Plan to protect endangered species in the Central Texas Hill Country.
He met US Fish and Wildlife Service requirements and coordinated staff support through the City of Austin, Travis County, the Lower Colorado River Authority, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The result is the conservation of at least 30,400 acres of habitat in western Travis County.
Lessard holds a master’s degree in public affairs from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and business from Washington State University.
View Lessard’s résumé here.
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Michael Dashiell is the editor of the Sequim Gazette for the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which also consists of the other sound publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News and Forks Forum. Reach him below [email protected].
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