Sedro-Woolley splits operations division into two groups

SEDRO-WOOLLEY - The Sedro-Woolley City Council approved April 8 the reorganization of the city's Public Works Operations Division into two coordinated but separate groups.

One will focus on streets and stormwater, and the other on parks, facilities and the cemetery.

Nathan Salseina, who had overseen the entire Operations Division, will now oversee parks, facilities and the cemetery.

"This is something that since I've been with the department, we have been contemplating some measure of reorganization with Nathan and his group," Public Works Director Bill Bullock said.

The change will require a current assistant supervisor to move into a supervisor position.

The decision on who that will be has yet to be determined. Salseina hopes to have the position filled by the end of May.

Maintenance staff will be assigned to one of the two groups, with crossover allowed to meet seasonal demands such as mowing and field maintenance in the spring, and stormwater issues in the fall and winter.

Prior to 2009, the Operations Division had two separate groups.

But after the retirement of the supervisor who oversaw streets and stormwater, the groups were merged.

Salseina has managed the Operations Division since 2013.

"I've been trying to find a way to split the division back out into separate entities for 13 years now," Salseina said. "When I first took on the role, it was kind of explained to me it would be a temporary situation because we were in difficult financial times."

Over the years, Salseina's workload has increased due to additional parks acreage and number of facilities, increased regulations mainly due to stormwater and increased coordination with partnering agencies as well as nonprofits.

He said stormwater regulations and inspection requirements have increased, and with every new development going in those rules become tighter.

"There's also lot more to do with maintenance and record keeping," Salseina said. "The stormwater side has just continued to grow exponentially."

And on the parks side, the city has added Winnie Houser and Olmsted parks, and upgraded Memorial Park.

"Long story short, we made it work for 13 years, but it has got to the point where I don't feel I have adequate bandwidth to do it all, that I can't really focus on one area within the division and give it the focus it truly needs," Salseina said.

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