New public-works director eases into C. Falls

By NANCY KIMBALL

The Daily Inter Lake

The hierarchy at Columbia Falls City Hall shifted Monday when Lorin Lowry began work as the city's new public works director.

It's a newly reinstated position which reports directly to City Manager Bill Shaw. Lowry will oversee all public works projects and supervise employees in the Water, Sewer, Streets, Facilities and Parks departments.

Lowry, 54, returns to his native Montana after a stint as the Public Works director for Quincy, Wash., a high-desert community of just more than 5,000 people.

He was the first Public Works director and community development director/city planner for Hamilton from December 1999 through May 2005, during that city's early phase of explosive growth.

From August 1992 to December 1999, he was Cut Bank's city superintendent and assistant city administrator, carrying out public-works duties as his hometown struggled to recover from the oil industry bust. Throughout his city career, he said he also wrote or supported millions of dollars of grants to accomplish municipal projects.

For 14 years before that, he worked in oil production. He moved up from an electrician to supervisor over construction, operations, pumping, production and associated areas. He holds a vocational-technical degree in electronics.

As a young man, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard and gained experience in sonar technology.

Lowry contrasted the relatively sleepy pace of planning and growth at Cut Bank with the breakneck pace in Hamilton, where he handled two to three major subdivision reviews a year.

"Cut Bank's problem was the decimated economy from the oil industry collapse," he said. "In Hamilton, the growth phenomenon was shocking and outrunning the city all the time … My hope is that Columbia Falls is somewhere in between."

He wryly referred to the "planner's crystal ball" that kept him in good stead at Hamilton, giving him a sense of what projects were on the horizon and what infrastructure was needed to pave the way. His focus will be strictly on public works in Columbia Falls, but he said he would help with planning if needed.

He's also aware of the potentially touchy position he may be in with his new upper-management job.

In March, Shaw proposed creating the position, with a pay range from $45,000 to $50,000. The city had a public works director in the past, but the title was dissolved after Columbia Falls moved to a city-manager form of government.

In recent years, two superintendents divided public works responsibilities. Gary Root, who has worked with the city since August 1982, was hired in 1996 as Water and Sewer superintendent. John Lawler was hired in August 2004 as the Streets and Facilities Maintenance superintendent.

Root remains in his position, but Shaw terminated Lawler's position Aug. 10.

Neither Root nor Lawler applied for the public works director position.

"It's interesting to come in as a new concept. I've done that before," Lowry said, after spending a day with Root touring city facilities and residential-growth areas across town.

"It will be challenging to the workers, but there will be an orientation period. I'm not coming in with a ball of fire."

"I really need him to run public works," said Shaw, who has added city planner and other supervisory duties to his plate since becoming city manager in November 2001. "His input will be things like, when do we need the tank to go in, when do we need to build roads?"

What are Lowry's plans now?

"Acclimate," he said simply. He said it helps knowing that his new boss used to be a public works director himself, and understands Lowry's daily work load.

Shaw hired the 54-year-old Montana native the first part of August.

Lowry visited Columbia Falls on July 28-30 during the Heritage Days weekend.

He has two children and four grandchildren who still live in Cut Bank, and another two sons in southern Utah. He and his wife, Lova, a Whitefish native, have moved into a home just south of Columbia Falls.

Reporter Nancy Kimball can be reached at 758-4483 or by e-mail at nkimball@dailyinterlake.com.