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September 30, 2003 COUNTY PLANNING & PERMIT CENTER COMPLETES REORGANIZATION New hires, promotions, focus on improved customer service SKAGIT COUNTY – Skagit County Planning and Permit Center Director David Blane announced the completion of a departmental reorganization to simplify what he called a “rat’s nest” of conflicting and confusing land use codes. “It is a departmental priority to tackle, on a county-wide basis, the problem of defining lots of record and reducing the inequities of mandatory lot aggregation, as well as improving customer service,” said Blane. Blane’s reorganization plan includes the announcement of Brent Morrow as the new Supervisor of Current Planning Services, and Mary Baldwin as Customer Service Manager. Morrow was recently a senior planner for the City of Bothell. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Wildlife Management from the University of West Virginia, a Masters of Science degree in rural town planning, and an MPA in public administration from the University of Montana. “Brent’s experience in putting out fires is probably his best qualification for working here,” said Blane. Baldwin began as the new Customer Service Manager on July 28. She will be in charge of expediting the over-the-county permit applications. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Western Washington University. The new reorganization divides the department into two divisions. Assistant Director Gary Christensen will oversee the Planning Division, and Bill Dowe will continue as Skagit County’s building official. The Planning division will be divided into Long-Range headed by Kirk Johnson, Current Planning led by Brent Morrow, and Natural Resource Administration led by Kendra Smith, Assistant Director. In the Building Department, Al Jongsma will continue as Assistant Building Official and Baldwin will manage customer service. In addition, Blane announced several promotions within the department. Tawnee Bosman, Cindy Gauthier, and Georgine Rosson recently passed their exams to be certified as permit technicians and have been promoted. Bosman will be the new Permit Coordinator for the Planning Division. Kirk Johnson has been promoted to supervisor of the Long Range Planning Section. Blane took the helm of the Planning & Permit Center in May of this year. He previously served as Director of the Office of State Planning for the State of Hawaii. A native of Washington state, he is a graduate of the University of Washington.
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