Harmon ...

From page 1 overall has gone well. I’m very thankful for [former interim city manager] Dave Wilbrecht and the time that he spent giving me an overview of the projects and explaining the ins and outs of the things happening in the city. Dave’s last day with the city was February 3.

Q: How have you been getting to know the community?

My wife and children were able to transition with me. One of the ways we immerse ourselves in the community is through my son’s sports. I’ve also reached out to meet with the director of the Boys and Girls Club, I’ve met with the director of the senior center, I’ve got meetings proposed with the chamber of commerce. I’ve met with a number of both developers and civic leaders in the community, to introduce myself, listen to their concerns, listen to what’s going well in Blaine and get an overall feel of the pulse of the community.

Q: What initially attracted you to work as a city manager?

The variety of what a city manager does is tremendous. You need to know enough about each of the departments that you’re responsible for, but not necessarily be an expert. And your day is different from handling police matters to matters of development.

I believe local government is the most responsive branch of government to the needs of the citizens. We get to drive around the community and see the fruits of our labor. We get to see projects that we’re a part of and improvements in people’s lives that we helped make happen. And that’s rewarding work.

Q: What are the most important things you’ve learned about Blaine so far?

It is a special community that is positioned well for the future growth that will likely occur in Whatcom County and the Pacific Northwest. Blaine is a safe community. It is a clean community. And it’s a community that I believe offers a high quality of life to both our residents and visitors.

Q: How does Blaine compare to previous cities where you’ve worked?

Blaine reminds me a lot of Spearfish in terms of the growth that it’s experiencing. Spearfish had a number of developments underway as well as a need for affordable housing. Affordable housing is really a nationwide issue and concern, and Blaine is not immune to that. I was a part of making a development called Sky Ridge. Sky Ridge is approximately 300 homes that is adjacent to a sports complex that includes seven regulation soccer fields and four regulation softball fields. We used tax-increment financing (TIF) to offset the costs of the infrastructure needed to serve that area and some of the costs associated with the sports complex. We were also able to use TIF to buy down the cost of the lot and require the developer to stay within certain financial parameters as they sold the homes that they built. It required the developer to perform in terms of numbers of homes they build every year, but also price points where those homes can be sold. It was a really successful project. It’s an ongoing project and just entering phase two, I believe.

Q: How will you use what you’ve learned from your previous positions as city manager to this role?

The problems are very similar.

I’ve been fortunate in my career to be a part of some really big projects from a wastewater treatment expansion to an affordable housing project, to building a new rec center. Taking that history, the personal experience of being a part of those projects, and applying it to Blaine will be useful.

Q: What will you like to accomplish by the end of your first year?

I would like to have seen us get a real handle on how to implement a sustainable financial model for Blaine. Our current model isn’t sustainable. We have to make difficult decisions on how we’re going to operate and the services that we’re going to provide. My number one goal in year one is to recommend to council options to implement a sustainable financial model for Blaine.

The department heads are researching what some of those cuts or revenue increases may look like. We haven’t had those conversations yet. We’ll know more by probably mid to late summer. We want to communicate options internally before we go public. I think it’s good that we’re early so we can do the research necessary to make informed decisions.

Q: What other challenges do you see in Blaine?

We’ve got some challenges with the condition of some of our infrastructure. We need to decide how we’re going to bring our infrastructure up to the standards that we would all benefit from and like to see. Determining how we fund those and what we have to do versus what we would like to do will be a priority in the next two to five years. Maintaining and bringing our infrastructure up to the standards that I think we’d all like to see is certainly a challenge for us.

Q: What’s your perspective on the city’s infastructure?

Our infrastructure is in a state that is working. We don’t have anything that is critical at this point. It is time for us to develop comprehensive plans on how we plan to mitigate some of the issues we know are likely to happen in the future, and determine how we’re going to fund both the aging infrastructure replacement and some of the upgrades that will be necessary to facilitate development.

Q: What are your views on housing development in Semiahmoo and east Blaine?

We’re going to have to tackle our financial problem by both growing our revenues and by decreasing our expenditures. As we get more development, both our property taxes increase and those homeowners and visitors will shop in Blaine, which helps our sales tax growth. I’m supportive of development. It’s what Blaine needs if it is going to provide a similar level of service that it’s providing today.

Q: Residents have voiced concern in the past year about uncontrolled development. What would you say to them?

The city of Blaine has comprehensive master plans surrounding development and the state of

Washington has strong regulation surrounding development. We follow both our master plan and the state of Washington laws. Developments happening and proposed in Blaine are thought through at a very high level with the support of staff, planning commission and council. We do our best to make sure that development happens in a planned manner and one that makes sense for Blaine.

Q: Do you believe TIF could be a good tool to spur development?

At the current levels that we’re considering using TIF, I believe that could be a financial tool to help facilitate that development, which also helps grow our schools.

Q: What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my family, watching my son play sports, fishing, scuba diving, camping, riding four-wheelers and dirt bikes. I tend to like just about anything outdoors that’s got a component of adrenaline to it.

Thursday, March 2 9:00am – Ad Hoc Downtown Advisory Committee Meeting

Thursday, March 9 9:00am – Parks and Cemetery Board Meeting 6:00pm – Planning Commission Meeting

Monday, March 13 6:00pm – City Council Meeting

Thursday, March 16 9:00am – Ad Hoc Downtown Advisory Committee Meeting

Monday, March 27 6:00pm

City Council Meeting