Volunteers valuable to city

Volunteers with the City of Sequim provided 8,843 trackable hours of service in 2015, donating their time and talent to beautify city planting areas, maintain trails, build and repair foot bridges, assist with scanning records and support the Sequim Police Department through the Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS) program.

This figure does not include members of the city boards and commissions, the Reserve Police Officers and various community groups who also assist the city with projects.

The website http://volunteeringinamerica.com uses the hourly figure of $27.54 per hour for Washington, which equals a value of $243,550 in volunteer services.

The city pays state industrial insurance on volunteers based on the number of hours reported. In 2015, the insurance cost $533.31 for volunteers.

The city spent an additional $1,183 to support the program including the annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.

The city volunteer program has been expanding and became more formalized in 2013 with the development of a “volunteer” Volunteer Coordinator position. The role was first filled by Linda Cherry.

Later in 2013, now-elected city council member Pamela Leonard-Ray assumed this role. Leonard-Ray was instrumental in developing job descriptions and increasing the efforts to track volunteer efforts and the hours served. Leonard-Ray was recognized with the second annual Westcott Award in 2015 for her efforts.

The award is named for volunteer Emily Westcott, who was the first recipient in 2014.

The City of Sequim Volunteer Program is managed by the City Clerk’s Office. For more information on the volunteer program, contact City Clerk Karen Kuznek-Reese at kkuznek@sequimwa.gov or 681-3428.

To read the full 2014-2015 Volunteer Report, visit the city website at www.

sequimwa.gov.