Simmons named interim director
Brian Coddington, Communications Director, 509.625.6740
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 at 6:27 p.m.
Business and Developer Service Director Jan Quintrall, who has led improvements to customer service and investment in the city, announced today that she will leave the City of Spokane.
Mayor David Condon named Scott Simmons interim director to replace Quintrall, whose responsibilities include streets, engineering, planning and asset management. Quintrall has agreed to assist Simmons, who leads the City’s performance management initiative, during a short transition period to ensure key initiatives continue moving seamlessly forward.
“Jan has broken down barriers, pushed her division and others in the City to think beyond traditional ways of doing things, and delivered tremendous results for the citizens she served,” Condon said. “She has laid a tremendous foundation and built a great team that Scott will continue its good work with Scott.”
Under Quintrall’s leadership, customer service improved in building and planning services, a gateways beautification effort was launched and the city saw record construction investment. City assets are managed much more efficiently, and collaboration between the streets, utilities and parks departments is delivering better results for our citizens.
“Jan has been someone who was able to get things done,” said Wayne Brokaw, executive director of Inland Northwest Associated General Contractors. “She is deeply invested in the city and genuinely cares about her team and the customers they serve. Working with the City has become so much easier.”
The City’s integrated clean water plan is built upon cooperation between the streets, utilities and parks departments. The partnership saved the City $150 million in stormwater and wastewater management. Average permit times dropped to 28 days last year, the lowest in recent memory. Quintrall also led an initiative to clean up freeway underpasses and keep them free from graffiti.
“Jan brought much needed change,” said Dan Buller, who works in Engineering Services. “She has saved the city multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars by not accepting ‘that’s how we’ve always done it’ for an answer.”
Quintrall said she is leaving the City to keep the attention on those and other accomplishments and to allow the division to focus on the work in front of it.
“I love the City, and I’m terribly proud of what we’ve been building and the progress we’ve made,” Quintrall said. “The recent attention on me has made it clear that I have broken the public’s trust, and I can’t repair that.”
