By Avani Nadkarni
of The Herald
Sumner’s outgoing city administrator, John Doan, can spout out seemingly random trivia on command.
It’s that kind of fun-loving dialogue that has gotten Doan many fans not only throughout the city offices but throughout the entire Sumner community. So many fans, in fact, that about 150 people showed up to a Jan 24 community-wide farewell party for him.
“John is just hilarious,” said Shelly Schlumpf, executive director of the Sumner Downtown Association and longtime Sumner resident. “Everyone has a good John Doan story.”
It would be easy to mistake the offbeat sense of humor with a lack of work ethic but it would be highly inaccurate, Schlumpf said.
“He’s done some amazing, wonderful things for the city of Sumner,” she said.
The 48-year-old Doan, who grew up in small-town Sedro-Wolley, about 25 miles south of Bellingham, went to Washington State University. After completing a Bachelor of Science in geological engineering and a master’s in civil engineering, he went to work for the city of Seattle as an engineering project manager and a land use specialist. In 1991, the state of Washington passed the Growth Management Act.
“After that, planners were worth their weight in gold,” Doan recalled. “Every municipality needed a planner.”
He responded to a job opening in Sumner, even though he barely knew where the city was located. In September of that year, he joined the city as the community development director. Sumner was half the size, both geographically and in population, and Dick Lawson was the mayor.
Since then, Doan has worked with five mayors, countless city council members and numerous fellow city employees.
In 1999, he decided he needed to “resharpen my tools” in terms of education, so he switched to a part-time position as the parks and facilities manager with Sumner and enrolled in Seattle University’s not-for-profit leadership program.
“While people wouldn’t consider my job as a not-for-profit job, the government is not-for-profit, too,” Doan said. “It taught me a great deal.”
By 2001, he was back as the community development director with an added title: deputy city administrator. Four years later, he became the city administrator.
Of all his accomplishments, which include creating the city’s urban forestry program, forming a partnership with East Pierce Fire and Rescue, facilitating the creation of the proposed Sumner YMCA, creating the skate park and overseeing city hall renovations, Doan said his proudest is creating the city’s comprehensive plan.
“It did what it was supposed to do, but it kept our small-town feeling,” he said. “While some people struggle with the growth issue, ultimately, the city is going where people want it to. I’m proud that it really is the community’s plan. I didn’t come up with the plan, I helped the community come up with the plan. If anything, I just uncoded it.”
Doan, who has two children, 14-year-old Christine and 21-year-old Jeff, takes pride in being involved in the Sumner community outside of work, too. He’s a member of Rotary Club of Sumner and has worked with the Sumner/Bonney Lake Education Foundation. He grew up with a father who was on the Sedro-Woolley school board and was very involved, he said.
“We watched people in town dedicate their time and money to the community,” he said of his childhood. “I remember hammering the roof on our community center. You just sort of get raised on that ethic.”
Doan also believes in creating that atmosphere at work.
“We probably spend more time with our co-workers than our families,” he said. “You should enjoy going to work. People (at the city of Sumner) work hard but at the same time, people should be able to have fun.”
With that in mind, Doan had the idea in 1995 of having a mascot that started in the community development department and has now spread to other departments within the city. It’s a nameless rubber chicken that travels with employees on their family vacations, business trips and other journeys. The only requirement is that the employee come back with photos.
“We have a planner that got married in India, so the chicken went there,” Doan said. “It’s been to Egypt, Macchu-Picchu, Belgium, Amsterdam. It’s met famous people, it’s been to the White House.”
Doan has definitely left his stamp on the city said Mayor Dave Enslow, who was one of the council members who showed Doan around town when he first arrived in Sumner.
“If we ever get named streets back, we’ll have to have a Doan Boulevard,” Enslow said Doan’s last council meeting on Jan. 19.
During that meeting, Enslow and Deputy Mayor Steve Allsop presented Doan with a toy tractor, a gift from the council.
“You’ve had such a huge hand in turning this farming community into a progressive small city,” Allsop said to Doan. “That’s just a huge order.”
Doan told the council he’d miss them and promised he’d return for the grand opening of the YMCA.
“I feel like I’ve added value here (and) I feel that the city of Sumner is ready for the next person,” he said. “Even without the (toy) tractor, I would not forget Sumner.”
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Dear John
Members of the Sumner community share their funny stories and favorite memories of John Doan:
“From the time he was 8-years-old, John started writing famous people, trying to get them to write back. They’re people like Ed Asner, Mary Tyler Moore, Barbara Walters, Rosa Parks. I said ‘You should have them on your wall!’ and he said “Well they’re kind of valuable, they have signatures on them.’ So a year ago, (Sumner Communications Director) Carmen (Palmer) and I enlisted his son Jeff to bring us the three photo albums of these letters he had. We framed photocopies of the letters and put them in his office and in the center framed the words ‘Dear John.’ It became his Dear John wall.” — Shelly Schlumpf, Sumner Downtown Association Executive Director
“The first time i ever met John Doan ... he walked into the Gig Harbor YMCA and he said ‘Oh my goodness, this is what the Sumner community has been talking about and dreaming about.’ He put his hands in the air and said ‘We could do something.’ A lot of people have those moments but within two weeks he had the Sumner Community Center Task Force on a bus there and that’s how the Sumner Y was born. John has the tremendous capacity to put together all these ideas and thoughts and galvanize them. It’s an impression and a feeling he has and he gathers the right diverse group of people and then good things happen.” — Bob Ecklund, President and CEO of the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties.
“A few years ago, Sumner County in Tennessee was hit hard by tornados. It didn’t make the local press, but I get automatic notices whenever “Sumner” is in the news, even if it’s a different Sumner. I made a comment to John about it and he asked me to find something that we could send to let them know we were thinking about them ... We sent Sumner County a card and one of our extra Sumner University t-shirts and you wouldn’t believe the grateful card we got back. Obviously, the t-shirt wasn’t going to help the devastation, but the fact that a city in Washington let them know we were thinking about them seemed to make a big difference. We often tease John that he knows all these random facts about history, but the best part is that he uses them. He knows that government is about people, not about laws, and the more people can help each other — even if it’s just a thoughtful gesture —the better off we’ll all be.” — Carmen Palmer, Sumner Communications Director
“About this time last year, we were recovering from the flooding and John had about 18 inches of water on the floor of (his) house and where was John? He was at the emergency operations center we had at the city, helping others while his own home was flooding.” — Steve Allsop, Sumner City Councilmember
“In the 2000 Daffodil Parade, my ride (for riding in the parade) fell through the night before the parade. I didn’t know anyone with a convertible so, the next morning at City Hall, I asked John if he would drive me through Sumner in his car. He was shocked and reminded me that his car was a Jeep (so) I reminded him that he could take off the top and sides! He agreed but insisted he had to go home and wash the Jeep. When he returned he had his two children, Jeff and Christine, in the Jeep and he explained that he wanted them to have the experience of being in a parade if I didn’t mind. We had a wonderful time and everyone thought I had a couple of my grandchildren with me. Presented with a problem, John always makes the most of the situation!” — Barbara Skinner, former mayor of Sumner
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