KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro discussed the ‘elephant in the room’, namely the recent articles in the Port Townsend Leader about City Manager Mauro.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro welcomed Tanya Barnett, Program Executive for Social Responsibility at the Olympic Peninsula YMCA and we learned about the new Children’s Advocacy Center (CAC) that will be using the former KPTZ studios at the CIty’s Mountain View Commons.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark sat down with Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro and Mayor David Faber for our quarterly get together, this week during the KPTZ fund drive. We talked about the importance of community radio, and David fielded an interesting question about housing.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark talked with Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro about what’s going on with the Fort Worden PDA, about the Port Townsend city budget process and a bit about ongoing road work projects.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro talked with Chris Hannon, the Youth Services Manager at OlyCAP about their support of people 25 and under who might be experiencing homelessness and related difficulties. This is well worth listening too.

This week John Mauro was away at the 2024 ICMA Annual Conference (the ICMA is the International City/County Management Association, an association of professional city and county managers and other employees who serve local governments).

The City of Port Townsend was the winner of the 2024 ICMA Award for Local Government Excellence in Community Sustainability for the City’s Financial Sustainability Initiative. The City’s Financial Sustainability Initiative was a multi-year strategic effort to map out pathways for the City to meet ongoing and evolving community needs over the long term. The City has had balanced budgets but over time, gradual divestment and neglect of core infrastructure has threatened our financial stability. 

The Financial Sustainability Task Force was created in 2022 to assist with a review of the City’s current financial position and identify options for the future to recommend to City Council. The Task Force included Catharine Robinson, Earll Murman, John Nowak, and Rich Jahnke. They were assisted by core city staff members Carrie Hite, Connie Anderson, Emma Bolin, Shelly Leavens, and Steve King.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark visited with Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro and heard about the joint meeting of City Council and Planning commission last Wednesday. They took the “People, Planet and Prosperity Tour” of three sites around Port Townsend as they explored the impact of planning on our built environment with some experiential learning. You can take the tour too. Go to https://www.pt2045planning.org/ and click on the map for a copy of the guidebook. John also gave some shout-outs to city staff who have being going above and beyond dealing with some recent urgent repairs.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro welcomed Dr. Gabbie Caudill and Danielle Vasenda from Believe In Recovery (https://believeinrecoveryllc.com/) and Gateway to Freedom. We learned about services they provide to people who are in crisis. This was both fascinating and poignant.

Port Townsend CIty Manager John Mauro and co-host Taylor Clark welcomed Dr. Suzy Ames, President of Peninsula College. We talked about a very interesting thirty-five million dollar ‘Recompete’ grant that has been received, spread across several organizations and governments in Clallam and Jefferson counties. This is a complex and far-reaching grant, so listen in and learn more. Dr Ames also points out that Fall quarter and Peninsula College is about to start and there is still space available in programs at the Fort Worden campus. Check pencol.edu for more information.

KPTZ’s Taylor Clark and co-host City Manager John Mauro welcomed Port Townsend’s newest City Councilor, Neil Nelson, who helped us understand why one would willingly take on this difficult job.