By Pepper Fisher
SEQUIM — The City of Sequim has promoted Matt Klontz to the position of Public Works Director effective immediately.
Klontz was appointed Interim Director in January when David Garlington retired, and has been Assistant Director since October of 2015.
The Sequim Public Works Department includes the water system, sewer collection system, and other things that people don’t generally think about but certainly rely on. Far more high profile though are the traffic and pedestrian projects. Those are the subjects that everyone seems to have an opinion about. It’s also the one thing that Klontz, with his Master of Science Degree in Construction Management, most geeks out on.
“Yeah, you know, my background as an engineer is in transportation. So I do get really excited and pretty jacked up about pavement and transportation and the whole realm of traffic engineering. Its high reward in the sense that the community often provides feedback, and sometimes that feedback is good feedback, other times it’s in the form of a complaint. But it lets you know as an engineer that people care. And that makes it worthwhile.”
Klontz says there are several projects in the works this year, but the one that will have the most impact this construction season will be the repaving, or “mill-and-fill”, of the west end of Washington Street this summer.
It’s a high traffic area and there is likely to be some inconvenience, but Klontz, who comes off as a pretty easy-going guy, has his own way at looking at these things.
“Yeah, there are pros and cons with every decision. In particular, transportation. Every transportation decision made is going to have an upside and a downside and it’s going to benefit a certain user class more so compared to another user. So it’s really a balancing act to try and accommodate everyone. And often I tell people that, you know, as a traffic engineer, a transportation engineer, that’s really not what I am. I’m more of a transportation therapist, and just try and explain, you know, the good, the bad and the ugly of our transportation decisions that we have to make.”
(City of Sequim photo)