John Mauro

Courtesy photo

Last year wasn’t just another year. It was a year of universal disruption, incredible pain and challenge, and remarkable resilience and cooperation. 

A year of minimal silver linings for sure, but one was this: We may have never been as confronted by our critical interdependence and the need for one another than during 2020.

That remains true. We haven’t yet sailed into safe harbor, and we’ll be working for years to repair the hull damage from the pandemic, particularly on our pre-existing conditions like inequity, climate disruption and social injustice. 

But a flip of the calendar and calmer seas invite reflection. I believe strongly that I owe you and the community such a reflection on how the City did during the past year. That’s why I’m pleased to release the city of Port Townsend’s first annual report, available on the city’s website at www.cityofpt.us/annualreport.   

The report is a brief, high-level 2020 retrospective meant to give you a clear and concise sense of our financial position, how we’ve served the community, a few fun facts about what city departments do, and an outlook for 2021.  

The report tells the story of our community’s collective resilience through the pandemic and sets the tone for greater engagement and a deeper dive into how we can become even more sustainable and resilient into the future.

But it doesn’t just tell a story of success. In the spirit of continuous learning and transparency, the report also fronts some honest lessons learned and an intention to retool for the next year. Let’s face it: many of us were pulling out all the stops, trying to be resourceful, creative and adaptable in the face of ever-changing information, guidelines and circumstances. Missteps were inevitable and therein lie opportunities for improvement.

I take responsibility for directional missteps in how the city operated (or didn’t) in 2020. But despite any (or many) of those, I cannot express more emphatically how committed the city staff are to delivering the services you depend on and how they’ve worked through considerable stresses and unimaginable difficulties in doing so. I know it’s been a year of recognizing those workers “essential” to keeping our society going — and that’s not limited to local public servants — but it most certainly includes our entire City team. I’m grateful for how the team pulled together, dug deep and worked hard to get us through a very tough year.  

Please have a look at this new annual report. I welcome your thoughts on the report, your reflections on the year and your ideas for how we can work together this year and beyond to deliver a better, fairer and more sustainable community for us all.

(John Mauro is city manager for Port Townsend.)