Jefferson County Public Utility District manager Jim Parker is leaving the PUD after almost 24 years with the utility, eight months before he planned to do so in May 2018.

Parker signed a separation agreement on Monday, Sept. 11, approved unanimously by PUD commissioners, which indicates there is reorganization taking place at the PUD.

Per the agreement, Parker is to start using accumulated paid time off on Sept. 20 and be available to the assistant general manager, Kevin Streett, who has been promoted to acting general manager, through Parker’s last official date of employment, which is Feb. 1, 2018.

In addition to taking paid time off, Parker is to receive a sum of $70,000, which represents six months of his current salary, according to a copy of the eight-page separation agreement.

After the paid time off, Parker is to continue to receive “the same or equivalent health insurance benefits as JPUD employees after the termination date until employee reaches the age of 65,” the agreement states.

Last Friday, when he knew the separation agreement was to be discussed at a public meeting on Monday, Parker, 63, said, “It’s been fun. I think we accomplished a lot.”

Parker said that when he started as manager of the PUD, there were 500-600 water customers and some septic systems under the umbrella of the utility.

“I think I had four lawyers working for me back then,” Parker said. As for employees, “There was me, Joe, Barbara, Rita, Mike and Jerry,” he said of how few employees there were and how he could name them all by first name.

Since it took over the electric system in East Jefferson County from Puget Sound Energy in 2013, the PUD has grown to a staff of 50. Last year, the district had its worst state audits since Parker started at the PUD. The district also had a series of financial officers, including one, Bob Caprye, who sued the district and was paid a $87,500 settlement in 2016.

Parker noted on Sept. 12 that the PUD has passed its last audit.

Commission chair Ken Collins said Tuesday that the separation agreement has been discussed with Parker for about the past four months.

“This is a very different PUD,” Collins said. “It’s much larger, more complex. Jim is a person of great skill. He’s a very bright guy, a pleasure to work with, but I think there was a shared agreement that it didn’t make sense to wait another eight months to effect a separation.”

Collins said the PUD expects to do a national search for Parker’s replacement.

“We’ll probably focus initially on someone in the Pacific Northwest, but we’re going to hire a national search firm and get the best person we can for the position,” Collins said on Sept. 12.

Collins said a pay range has not been decided yet.

Parker was given a pay raise last year in April, from $128,000 to $140,000 a year.

“I’ll miss the people, but it’s time. I’m fine with it,” Parker said of leaving the PUD. He said he planned to spend more time with family, travel and take care of his bees.

Collins said it would be inaccurate to characterize the separation agreement as a “termination” or that Parker has been fired.

“It was mutual. It’s a separation,” Collins said. “I think it was mutual, I’m not contesting it,” Parker said.

Collins estimated the value of the separation agreement at about $100,000, including the $70,000 lump sum, which represents six months of Parker’s salary, and the extension of his health care insurance until Parker reaches 65.

“I want to emphasize that Jim made an enormous contribution to the PUD,” Collins said. “He took it from being a tiny, tiny entity employing less than half a dozen and now it’s a staff of more than 50. I think he’s made an enormous contribution to the community.”

There is a non-disparagement clause in the separation and release agreement that prohibits either Parker or PUD officials from saying anything disparaging. Any breach of that agreement could result in a $5,000 fine per occurrence.