KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and cohost Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro were joined by the new Port Townsend Mayor Amy Howard. There was a good question from a listener about how we might improve the dialogue between the city council and their constituents. Taylor also read a portion of Mayor Howard’ web post calling for “listening to one another with curiosity and compassion.” The entire statement is available here: https://cityofpt.us/citycouncil/page/january-2026-message-mayor-amy-howard. John mentioned that Amy is featured in the Association of Washington Cities magazine this month. The article can be found here: https://wacities.org/data-resources/cityvision/articles/2026/01/05/home-run.

KPTZ”s Taylor Clark and co-host Port Townsend CIty Manager John Mauro reviewed the significant achievement of the PT city government in 2025.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and cohost Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro where joined by Emma Bolin, Director of Planning and Community Development, Council member Owen Rowe, and on zoom, Mayor (also Council member) David Faber. We discussed the final 2025 Comprehensive Plan approval. The final plan will be published here (https://www.pt2045planning.org/get-involved) by December 24, 2025.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro talked about the Comp Plan Process that is drawing to a conclusion now, with its state mandated end of year deadline.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro were joined by Katy Goodman, Arts & Culture Coordinator for the Port Townsend Creative District, who let us know about the nomination process Port Townsend Arts Awards. Information on how to nominate someone is available at https://ptcreativedistrict.org/art-awards/. We were also joined by Eron Berg, the Executive Director of the Port of Port Townsend, who made an impassioned case for open-hearted participation in the process of finding community based solutions to the problems faced by local government. This is a poor paraphrase of what he was saying, listen in to hear what he actually said… its good.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro were joined by PT Mayor David Faber as well as Washington State Parks’ Chris Holm, Campus Business Manager for Fort Worden. Chris brought us up-to-date with changes at the Fort, including possibility of overnight accommodations which are re-starting this week. Reservation information is available here.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro talked about the city budget, which is currently under consideration by City Council. To learn more about the ins and outs of the city budget, check out this short video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9adTlpore_I

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark was joined by three Port Townsend department heads: Police Chief Tom Olson, Planning Director Emma Bolin, and Director of Public Works Steve King. We explored what is happening with respect to the proposed closing of the homeless encampment on the Evans Vista property. We talked about the city’s partnership with assistance organizations, and the city council’s action to streamline the permitting process for help these organizations respond to homelessness.