Around the Point

Water district changes

Kelli Wallace is replacing Gigi Reeves as the front desk face of the water district.

Reeves, who has worked as the water district’s customer service representative for six years, will be looking for employment closer to her home in Birch Bay, said district manager Dan Bourks while Wallace, a 14-year veteran of Whidbey Telecom’s customer service department, will be part of the evolving structure of the water district.

“I’m hoping she can take on a larger role in the overall operation,” said Bourks, who is anticipating retiring in two or three years and is planning for the transition for when he leaves. “There’s no reason she couldn’t take on the manager’s role.”

Bourks said although he works in the field frequently, that isn’t the norm for most water districts and commissioners will have to look at restructuring and possibly adding a staff member after he leaves. “Organizationally, we’re going to be looking at making changes,” Bourks said.

In other water district news, Bourks said he had met with Faber Construction, the low bidder on the shop and office the district plans to build adjacent to the fire station on Benson Road in hopes of getting the project under budget. “They have suggested we could cut the project cost in half if we put the office in the shop,” Bourks said. When bids were opened in October, they were all over twice the amount budgeted for the project.

Park district changes

The Point Roberts Park and Recreation District will be looking for members to fill upcoming vacancies on their board.

When the board meets on December 18, it will be the last meeting for outgoing chairman Linda Hughes; board member Sonia Liu submitted her resignation on November 27.

Vice chair Stephen Falk will take over as chair until the board is at full complement again, he said. With Hughes’ departure, Falk said, they are hoping to attract members who will take on some of her roles, specifically, the annual summer program. “We really want to get the kayak program up and running again in 2019 and we will look at bringing back the issue of accepting a lump sum payment for the cellphone tower lease next year, too.”

People interested in serving on the board can attend the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. or contact vice-chair Stephen Falk at stalk.prpr@gmail.com.