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New city administrator returns to Liberty Lake roots
5/9/2012 10:22:52 AM
By Kelly Moore
Splash Staff Writer
"The time and the place came together really well," Allen said. "There will be a lot of challenges, but that goes with the territory."
The city administrator, under the direction, supervision and authority of the mayor, is the executive officer and liaison officer for the city. This position directs the administration of city government functions and services and provides leadership in the long and short-term goals of the city.
Before she makes her way east, Allen will have to tie up loose ends in Bremerton, where she's worked since December.
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"She is so artful at getting the job done," said Robert Parker, a Bremerton business owner. "She has a way of bridging the gap between those who do and don't agree so that everyone wins."
During her time in Bremerton, Allen opened up the work area at the Oyster Bay facility, dispersed work responsibilities after three retirements, upgraded utility billing and initiated a graffiti clean-up program.
"You can actually look around our city and see things happening," Parker said. "That's something we haven't seen here in the last decade. Our hearts kind of sank when it was announced that she'd be leaving."
Allen admitted the move would be bittersweet, but the opportunity to return to the community she's long called home was a no-brainer.
"I didn't expect this," Allen said. "When I worked in Spokane during the early part of my career, I really enjoyed it there. I worked with great people, but an opportunity presented itself to go to California, and I was ready for a change. Going to Bremerton was also a turning point. When I came to Bremerton, I never imagined there would be a position in Liberty Lake. It's not something I mapped out. I didn't see it in the cards."
Still, she said it just feels right to come back to Liberty Lake, and working here will be a new adventure.
Below: Allen (center) was den leader for her sons' Boy Scout troop out of Greenacres Elementary School. Here the troop gets silly in Liberty Lake. Katy Allen
Back to her roots
Submitted photos
The Allen family on the deck of their Liberty Lake home in the late 1980s. At the time, both of her sons were attending Greenacres Middle School.
Age: 57
Current read: "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson
If I had a million dollars: I would donate, give to my grandkids' education and invest. (I wouldn't buy a car, take a trip or buy clothes.)
Favorite destination: Carmel, Calif.
Gardening go-to: Peonies
Allen first moved to Liberty Lake in 1983 with her husband, Randy, because of the convenient location - halfway between her job in Spokane and his job in Post Falls. They've had a home here ever since.
"As our kids grew up and we enjoyed being here, we just knew we never wanted to leave," Allen said. "Even though I had the fortune of going to California and working there for nine years, and now in Bremerton, we always knew we wanted to come back. We never even entertained the thought of giving up our home here."
In addition to the lake and golf courses, she said it was the community's amenities that kept her family here.
"It's the trails, the bike paths, the walkability, the convenience of having retail, places to eat and shop here, the library, the park system - all of those things," Allen said. "It's just a clean, safe community that we've enjoyed."
When Allen accepted a job in San Jose in 2002, the city had barely incorporated. Since she's been gone, though, she said it's only gotten better.
"The planning of this city pulled together a tremendous amount of forethought into that public space piece," Allen said. "I think it just adds to the attraction of Liberty Lake. The older I've gotten, the more I've learned to appreciate pedestrian amenities in a community - the walkability. I really like to get outside and walk around."
Keeping up with community
Allen acknowledged the many civic traditions that make Liberty Lake so appealing - the Fourth of July Parade, the Easter Egg Hunt, the yard sales, movies and concerts in the park.
"I enjoy that part of communities, especially ours here in Liberty Lake," Allen said. "Traditions are what make communities rich."
When asked to pick a favorite, she answered without pausing: the Farmers Market.
"Everything is unique," Allen said. "When you go shopping, no matter where you are in the United States and you go in the mall, it's pretty much all the same. But each community has their own Farmers Market, and ours here is really a reflection of Liberty Lake because it's unique - lavender grown just over the freeway, pets needing to be adopted, the food selection."
She said her must-buy item at the local market is always the lavender. It also happens to be a favorite of her granddaughter. After buying it together at the market last year, she said it inspired a family project to grow it themselves. They later harvested it and put it in containers to give out for Christmas.
For fun, Allen said family time tops her list. Her two sons, Paul and Jeff, are now grown and married with kids - one lives in Newman Lake and the other in North Idaho. She also likes to make use of the many bike paths in the area.
"I've really found that it grounds me, and it helps me focus," Allen said. "I like to get on my bike and just ride it east or west. The cardio part is kind of a side benefit for me - I like the mental part of it."
For similar reasons, she said she also likes gardening.
Interestingly, her community ties have kept her familiar with many of her soon-to-be colleagues.
Because they have homes in the same neighborhood, she's been an acquaintance of Mayor Steve Peterson and his wife, Charmaine, for a number of years. In the late 1990s, her graduate school classes overlapped with those taken by Community Development Director Doug Smith. Last fall, she got to know a few Council members after she was asked to help in the recruiting process of an interim city administrator.
Hitting the ground running
With about three weeks until her first day of work at City Hall, Allen said she's keeping busy behind the scenes closing out projects in Bremerton while making connections in Liberty Lake.
Starting June 4, she said there would be three things she needed to focus on in her first 30 days of work: getting to know city services, budgets and leaders.
"I just need to familiarize myself with our work product," Allen said. "Then I need to understand the budget. I really have to understand monies coming in and monies going out, how they are spent and how are we communicating those expenses to our Council and the community."
Finally, she said she would need to focus on getting connected with the City Council and the mayor.
"It's about building a productive work relationship there," Allen said. "I also need to get reconnected with our community and that happens on a number of different fronts."
On the personal side, she said she wouldbe trying to get her house in order - both figuratively and literally.
"I'll have to get into the new routine of working and living here," Allen said. "Because I always worked places where my family wasn't, I let work spill way over into life. There was a period in my life where my work-life balance was way off. What I want to do is organize my life so that I have a healthy balance there."
She noted the adjustment would be one of many made with the move.
"It's a new experience in a number of ways," Allen said. "I've never been a city administrator before, so that's exciting and challenging. I've never worked in a city like Liberty Lake before, so that'll be a new experience. I know that all comes with the territory. I'm confident that the skills I've picked up throughout my career are going to help me work with other people."
Ultimately, she said, she hopes to gather resources on the city side and connect those with the community to map out a path forward.
"It's a very exciting place to be right now at this point in my career," Allen said. "I don't want to sound so ‘Polyanna,' but the successes in my career have always come out of positive momentums. I get really jazzed when I think about public service."
Pooling from experience
With almost 35 years of experience in the public sector, Liberty Lake's new city administrator Katy Allen said she's picked up a handful of lessons learned along the way and hopes to incorporate those values into her new position.
She said her time as director of public works in Bremerton and as city engineer in San Jose, Calif., was when she solidified her leadership style. She said it was here that she learned the importance of key qualities in public operation.
Transparency
Topping that list was a stated objective for municipal government to be transparent.
"We don't operate in a vacuum, nor do we want our elected officials or community members to learn about things after the fact and then feel like they need to be educated," Allen explained. "I'm much more into engagement than education. It's being transparent and accountable, making sure we're communicating effectively."
To her, communication and transparency go hand-in-hand, and she's said she's seen electronic communication open doors to interacting with elected officials or city employees and getting questions answered more efficiently.
Accountability
Communication, Allen said, also plays into what she classified as another component of quality public works she picked up in California: accountability.
"As providers of public services, we hold ourselves to the very highest standards of being accountable to the services we deliver and providing communication and how our dollars are spent," Allen said. "We're also accountable to the mayor and city council - our goal is to make them successful, and in doing so, better serve our community. It's working hand-in-hand with our council and mayor to understand what their priorities are and then to build that into a work plan."
Benchmarking
In addition, Allen said keeping up with cutting-edge practices would be a top priority for her in Liberty Lake.
"We want to look at who is doing it well," Allen said. "We like to benchmark within the industry and know that the services we provide in our community are as good or better than services provided elsewhere. That way, when people have a choice as to where they're going to work or where they're going to live, Liberty Lake is going to be right up there as one of their top choices."
Despite only a five-month stint at her current job in Bremerton, she said the new experience gave her valuable insight into community spirit.
"I see a lot of positive energy there," Allen said. "Even though they're strapped for cash, there's a lot of positive energy about their service to the community, and I think that's something that is exciting."