KATSEL WRAPS UP 40 YEARS ON CITY CREW

WAITSBURG - Dan Katsel has only held two fulltime jobs in his adult life. The first was working at an orchard that was once located between Waitsburg and Dayton, where he worked the first four years following his 1969 graduation from Touchet High School. He'll retire from the second -- as a member of the Waitsburg city crew -- on December 1, after spending an eventful forty years on the job.

Katsel grew up in Touchet and recalls feeling "kinda jealous" as a child, when he came to visit his grandparents who farmed just outside Waitsburg. "Touchet was a really small town back then - it's a lot bigger now. We didn't even have a basketball hoop in someone's driveway to play basketball. There was nothing for kids to do but go down to the polluted Touchet and Walla Walla Rivers to play.

"I'd come to Waitsburg and they had a swimming pool! They had tennis courts (at that time, anyway) . . . they had basketball hoops at the tennis courts . . . they had basketball hoops at the grade school! . . . and they had beautiful rivers that were fairly pristine that you could fish in and that you could walk to and didn't have to ride your bike to! I loved to come up here and I was jealous," he said.

Little did the young man know that the responsibility for those assets he so appreciated would some day rest on his shoulders.

After working four years at the orchard, Katsel jumped at the opportunity to work for the City. "I wanted to raise my kids in a small town and jobs around here don't just grow on trees," he said. Katsel is pleased that all five of his children were able to grow up and attend school in Waitsburg.

He signed on with the City when Roy Leid was mayor and worked under the supervision of Elmer Hays and Grady Nix. He worked under them for 17 or 18 years until both retired in the early '90s. At that time he took over as Public Works Director.

Katsel recalled a few of the major projects he helped with during his time under Hays and Nix. The three worked throughout the '70s to '90s, slowly replacing most of the water and sewer lines in the City. Katsel said the lines were made of "Invasion Pipe," steel pipe that was made during wartime and was surplused to small towns when the war was over. The tar-paper-wrapped steel pipe had a tendency to rust and had to be replaced with PVC.

He was also involved in redoing the Spring Line - the 12 miles of gravity fed line that pipes water from Coppei Creek for the city's water supply. "It was terra cotta clay with concrete joints, and leaking like a sieve," he said. The line was replaced with PVC in the early '80's.

He was also involved when the enclosed water reservoir went online. Before the addition of the now-iconic water tower that welcomes visitors from the hill just north of town, Waitsburg was dependent on a 600,000 gallon concrete open-air reservoir, which was susceptible to contamination and would hold only 400,000 gallons of water before it began leaking water down the hillside. "Elmer and Joan worked very, very hard -- and I was working here at the time - and got that steel main reservoir online," said Katsel.

Katsel said the accomplishment he is most proud of during his own term as Public Works Director was the renovation of the City Pool following the flood of '96. Katsel said the renovation was a true community effort and "quite an ambitious project for the city crew." The pool was re-plumbed, was switched from gas to bleach chlorination, and had the bottom broken out to allow for a diving board. The crew performed the electrical work, hauled concrete, set stabilization tanks and much more. "It definitely kept me hopping at all times," he said.

Katsel's most memorable experience, by far - though not the most pleasant - was tackling the aftermath of the flood of '96. "The flood was a traumatic experience for the whole town, but especially for me. I'm in a responsible position. It was a real learning experience," he said. "For about three weeks there I probably only got an hour or two of sleep a night. I never had a grey hair before then, but I've had many since."

Katsel said the only advance warning of the flood wasa6a.m.callfromDaytonPublicWorksSuperintendent Jim Costello saying, "You've got a wall of water coming toward you!" Many improvements have been implemented since the '96 event, leaving Katsel confident that another flood will be much better managed and the crew won't be "moving from disaster to disaster" like last time.

The City has since worked with the Corps of Engineers to develop an approved flood plan. "Last time we were just up-in-the-air and flying by the seat of our pants," he said.

In addition, the highway bridge on the Coppei has been raised to allow water to flow underneath; the dike has been heavily reinforced with rip-rap; City Hall and the sewage treatment plant have been outfitted with generators; and a flood tone has been built in to the siren. Katsel says he's been told Waitsburg has the largest number of empty sandbags in the county and he's stockpiled 14,000 feet of black plastic to go around home foundations.

The 63-year-old public servant says he knows it's time to retire for a couple of reasons. Foremost, is a bad knee that continues to cause pain and limit his mobility. "I always said that if I couldn't do the job I wasn't going to just hang around for the paycheck," he said.

Second is his feeling that it's time to end his public servitude. Katsel recalls that, when he was first hired, he sometimes felt that Hays was a bit pessimistic. Now, after 40 years of working with the public, Katsel says he has a better understanding of that outlook.

"Whenever I'd go out in public with my kids or whatever, it seemed like everyone wanted something. Elmer always told me that if I did it for one person I had to do it for everyone. Over the years I got better at saying 'no.' But the last couple of years I feel like I've gotten a little harsh so I think it's time," he said.

No official announcement has been made regarding Katsel's successor but he feels the city is in good hands. Jim Lynch has worked under Katsel for over 20 years and has all certifications Katsel has: Water District Manager 2, Cross Connection Control Specialist, Class 2 Sewage Plant Operator and holds a Public Operator's License for pesticides.

"Everyone was afraid the city would fall to pieces when Elmer left but it survived when I took over. It'll be the same thing now," he said, adding that he felt it was "very, very important" to hire inhouse and reward employees for the time they've put in.

Katsel says his wife has a list of post-retirement projects that should keep him busy for a good while. He's also looking forward to spending time with his kids and grandkids and wants to do some cold-weather steelhead fishing. "I'm kinda interested in seeing what it's like fishing in the middle of the week instead of going out on the weekend," he said.

The community is invited to wish Katsel well at a retirement ceremony to be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the Lion's Memorial Building at the Waitsburg Fairgrounds.