By Pepper Fisher

SEQUIM – Sequim City Councilman Mike Pence has been accused of lying on the resume he used in his application for the council seat. We were contacted by area residents Marsha Maguire and Karen Hogan, who pointed out some discrepancies they had uncovered.

Pence’s resume says he was the Director of Public Works for the City of Liberty, Missouri from October 1988 to October of 2009. He was not.

We spoke to Steven Hansen, who was the Director of Engineering in Liberty from 1989 until a consolidation of multiple departments created the Public Works Department and he was made its first Director of Public Works in 1994. He says Pence was a Division Manager working in the department.

“As a result of the reorganization, I became head of Public Works. He became basically the street and utilities maintenance superintendent. And he reported to me. I don’t have anything against him. I do believe very strongly that people in city government should be accountable. They should be responsible. They should be honest and they should be committed to their community. And you can say that, but actions are a lot more than words.”

Hansen’s story is backed up by Susan Cox, the City’s Assistant Director of Human Resources, who confirms that Pence was never the Director of Public Works, but a Maintenance Supervisor.

She further points out that Pence’s claims of being responsible for supervision and development of the water and sewer departments would not have been part of his job description.

We spoke with Councilor Pence and asked about the apparent discrepancies.

“Well, she’s lying. Because you didn’t ask her the right question. When I was hired by the city of Liberty in 1988 my title, so to speak, I was Director of Utilities and Community Maintenance, which is the same thing.”

Pence admits that he never actually had the title of Director of Public Works, but only meant to highlight what his highest responsibilities were in the more than 20 years he worked for the city.

“I reflected the resume to reflect a different time period than they were thinking. If they look back in the city records, they will find what I had as a title and what my responsibilities were. And Steve wouldn’t know because he was City Engineer all that time. He had his own department to worry about, not mine.”

Hansen seems to remember quite well.

“When I came to the city in 1989, Mike Pence was a department head and he was over street and utilities maintenance and operation. So I’ll put it that way. But what it encompassed was street maintenance, utilities maintenance, and utilities operations, which included our water and wastewater facilities.”

“It could be looked as misleading. I put down my highest qualifications for that time period. Now, it wouldn’t make any difference that I went from director of whatever to street sweeper. Why would you list street sweeper? That’s how I look at it, that, you know, what’s that going to do for you in life?”