Paul Koch continues White Salmon work

Koch, originally hired on through the end of July, will now be working with the city through its budgeting process and through the end of October, which is planned as a month of transition from the interim administrator to the new permanent position. The contract calls for Koch to be on call for around 20 hours per month to assist the new administrator through the end of the year, in an amount not to exceed $102,000.

The contract extension was due to a recent round of interviews being unsuccessful. According to Koch, the city has identified more candidates but has not yet made a hiring decision, which will be made in open session of the city council.

The is the 73rd governmental body Koch has worked for throughout his career. Koch specializes in “troubleshooting” problems in local governments and filling positions in the interim. It’s something he’s really enjoyed for decades since deciding this specialty. Before that, he found his start working in parks and recreation, and was hired on as a city manager in The Dalles in the early 90s, which he found “quite disheartening.

“I spent my whole career waiting to get to be a city manager somewhere… the reason I went into city management is that I got sick and tired of the city manager cutting my Parks and Recreation budget. I said, I felt like I am going to be one of them. But the thought of doing the same thing over and over again…”

Since joining the city, Koch has played a major role in the recruitment of his permanent replacement as well as a replacement for the city planner, who recently took a job in Hawaii, and for the city clerk/treasurer, Jan Brending, who will retiring at the end of the year.

He’s also guided city staff through a new budget process, which will be discussed in upcoming council meetings. For this upcoming budget, Koch is working with Brending and Deputy Clerk/Utility Clerk Stephanie Porter and with department heads to write their budgets. There will be a narrative for the average person to read and understand, for example “how much are we paying for flowers at the park? Well, there it is,” Koch said.

Department heads will be asked to explain the purpose of the department, the department’s annual goals, how it will be accomplished through the budget, and how their success will be evaluated, Koch said.

Citizens want to know the details of the budget, he said, so the budget will be itemized and will list out the specific costs of services. The water fund, for example, will itemize how much equipment such as valves and meters cost.

The idea to perform a budget process in this way wasn’t all completely his own original ideas, but is part of the experience he’s gained from decades of working with different cities, counties, and ports.

He said he’s gleaned different processes and knowledge that he’s learned over the years and “jerry-rigged” them to fit the specific flavor of governance in a given city.

“I believe that the average citizen ought to be able to pick up the budget and know exactly why each department exists, what the objectives are, how much it’s going to cost, so they can extrapolate in their own mind: ‘so this is why I’m paying this much for water,’” he said.

Water is assuredly on Koch’s mind these days as he is also helping the city navigate a 10-year update to the city’s water system plan, a draft of which is set to be made public this month for a review by the Department of Health, and later for approval by city councilors. This process will take place starting November and is set to conclude in January.

For Koch, patience and trust are two of the most important values a city manager can have.

“I’ve come to the conclusion, in my chosen field, city management, (that) the city manager really doesn’t need to know anything,” he said. “But you have to be able to work with people and you have to have good people around you.”

He added that city managers don’t need to know every detail of a specific department. “We have experts who do that,” he said.

“White Salmon does have an unusally high skilled staff. Just look at Jan (Brending),” Koch said. “(The city has) been building a cohseive team, and they’re now doing weekly management team meetings.”

One highlight of his time as interim city manager is overseeing a massive change to the city’s development review process. Undertaken by permit technician Erika Castro-Guzman, the process has been outlined and abbreviated into a development review packet, readily available for any developer. “It organizes the process so we don’t waste time,” Koch said.

Also included in those changes is a consistent meeting schedule with department heads to track development applications, and any changes through the process. Castro-Guzman received applause from the city’s elected official for her work on the development review packet.

From here on out, the city and Koch’s main priority is finding a new city manager to take over the reins once Koch’s contract expires. Until then, “my job is to help the city get ready for when I’m not here.”