In the growing town of Napavine, the Community Development Department might be the most visible community presence of city government.
It’s a department in charge of permitting and procedures for new businesses, of which there have been several along bustling Exit 72 off of Interstate 5.
It’s what residents aren’t seeing that has one mayoral candidate riled, though.
That’s the presence of Community Development Director Steve Ashley.
The 26-year city government employee has been living in Arizona since August 2014 and traveling back to Napavine for a week each month.
The arrangement is one that has been accepted, and even embraced, by most at Napavine City Hall, including three of the four candidates for mayor — incumbent John Sayers and councilors Robert Wheeler and Jenifer Slemp.
Gary Litteer, a candidate on the primary ballot, disagrees.
He’s running on a platform largely defined by his desire to fire Ashley.
Ashley originally started as a field worker in the city’s Public Works Department 26 years ago. He moved up the ranks to later become the public works superintendent. After the creation of the Community Development Department in 2003, Ashley stepped into the position of director. The city had decided it would cost less to utilize internal employees instead of working with the county’s Community Development Department.
When working full time, Ashley was the highest paid employee for the city of Napavine, earning $5,971.45 a month. His salary included $210 of longevity pay. As the public works director and the community development director, Ashley said his departments oversaw the water, sewer, street, parks, facilities, building and planning departments.
He decided to retire from the city at the end of 2013, but current Mayor Sayers and the city council at the time asked him to stay on for another 24 months while the city found someone to fill those roles.
Ashley agreed to work part time starting in January 2014, and later in August he moved to Arizona.
He now spends half of his working time in Napavine, while the other half is spent working mobile from out of state.
Since the shift to working part-time, Ashley receives a $3,400 stipend for his work with the city. He waived his vacation, sick time and longevity pay, said City Clerk Penny Jo Haney. He is the fourth highest paid employee within the city, out of 13 positions total.
Currently, Ashley’s only role is as director of the Community Development Department.
Litteer said during his campaign he has heard a number of complaints from citizens of Napavine who are displeased with Ashley’s current working situation.
“I’ve been talking to quite a few people in Napavine and they feel that there’s a real problem that needs to be taken care of,” Litteer said. “He’s somehow working for the city and living in Arizona; and nothing can happen in Napavine unless Mr. Ashley signs off on it.”
Litteer said the arrangement has angered many residents and business owners who hope to move forward with projects, but are unable to because of the permitting process.
Emails received by The Chronicle also stated residents were “outraged” with the current situation, although many remained anonymous, with one saying it was because he feared retaliation.
Councilor and mayoral candidate in the upcoming election Wheeler said the problem stems from a vocal developer and contractor who does not want to follow the same laws as everyone else.
Although he said Ashley working part-time is not an ideal situation for the city, he said the community development director makes sure everyone follows the laws put in place with no exceptions.
“It’s pure personality (conflicts) and in my opinion, it’s because the developer does not want to follow the same rules as everyone else follows,” Wheeler said. “He likes to blame Steve.”
Ashley’s reply to The Chronicle’s questioning took a similar tone. He said the city has rules, regulations and ordinances in place that he must follow.
“For them to assume it’s me making those regulations, that’s a shame,” Ashley said. “It’s the council’s job to do that and the mayor enforces it.”
Currently, Ashley works 80 hours a month for the city, as his contract states, although officials said a lot of the work he does is on his own time.
“Mr. Ashley spends one physical week in the Napavine office, and on many occasions has been on site two to three weeks at a time, although paid for part-time,” Haney said in an email.
Sayers also said many do not know the amount of time Ashley has given to the city.
“(Ashley) saved the city a lot of money and people don’t realize the years he’s put into Napavine,” he said.
Ashley said he puts in the extra hours because Napavine is his hometown, one that he cares a lot for. His family still owns a house in the area, and he wants to see the city continually prosper with ongoing projects such as the Exit 72 Local Improvement District and the proposed Local Improvement District at exit 71.
Councilor and mayoral candidate Jenifer Slemp said the council had received positive emails from survey companies about the promptness of Ashley’s responses. In her opinion, the complaints against Ashley are unfounded.
“He’s worked for the city for 20-plus years and he’s been a great employee for the city,” Slemp said. “Most of the people I’ve talked to don’t have a negative thing to say about him.”
Comments from current councilors and the mayor could be seen as skewed by others, as Litteer said community members have told him Ashley has them all “wrapped around his finger.”
“A bunch of folks that live in the city and work in the city came to me and said, ‘Gary, would you run and see if you can’t straighten this out,’” Litteer said.
Others have said the Community Development Department, and the Public Works Department that Ashley used to oversee could not be properly operated while their lead manager is out of state.
A recent Labor and Industries investigation is one reason some believe shed light on that statement.
Elaine Fischer, public affairs offcial for L&I, confirmed an investigation involving Napavine City Water was opened June 16. Since the inspection is pending, Fischer could not provide more details, although she said the inspection could be completed in early August or the end of July.
Calls to L&I on the status of the investigation were not returned on Friday before deadline.
At the time an L&I inspection took place, Ashley was overseeing the Public Works Department after the superintendent resigned. He was in charge of the administration roles of the department for one to two weeks before Sayers internally promoted someone to the position. Ashley said he was not the acting person in charge of operations at the time.
Ashley did confirm that L&I investigated a situation of a worker who was seen on top of the water tower, with his safety lanyard not connected. Officials with L&I took photographs of the incident and later completed a more thorough investigation that found a number of miscellaneous violations, Ashley said, characterizing them as fairly minor.
Each violation discussed during an exit interview with L&I was corrected, Ashley said.
Now, with a new public works superintendent in place, Ashley said,, many of his responsibilities as director for the Community Development Department can be completed off site, much like a consultant hired on to do a project from an outside area.
“When you hire a consultant to do a project, they are not in house. They might be in Seattle, California or anywhere, but they put a project together and ship it to you via email or phone conversations,” Ashley said. “Everything is done that way and that’s what I do when I’m not there.”
Despite rumors in Napavine that Ashley will continue in his position past the 24-month agreement, Ashley said he is set to retire on Dec. 31.
Sayers, who is seeking another term in office, said he would have someone in place to fill the position by the first of the new year.
