Jeff Jabusch to bid goodbye to City Hall next week

After four decades of public service, City Hall will bid farewell this month to its longtime finance director and recent borough manager, Jeff Jabusch.

"It's going to be kind of strange, every morning getting up and not driving into this parking lot after forty years. My car will probably just come here automatically after that length," he said.

"It's been very rewarding," he said of his tenure. "I've got to meet a lot of interesting people, and working with a lot of people, both staff people and people from around town to accomplish things, and people out of town. I've had governors and senators and engineers and architects, and everybody in between. That's been extremely interesting just to work with a variety of different people over the years."

New face at the office

The Jabusch family came to Wrangell when Jeff was just six years old, when he began first grade. He went through school playing basketball and keeping up with his studies. He was salutatorian for his graduating class, and after a start at Oregon State ended up working his way through Seattle University.

Jabusch had not initially intended to go into his eventual major, accounting. "It's kind of a strange story, but initially I was going to teach and be a high school basketball coach," he said. A friend of his had a crush on a girl in an accounting class, and asked Jabusch if he would sign up as well.

"He convinced me because I was kind of a math guy to take this accounting class so I could help him pass," he recalled. "I ended up being interested in accounting and liked it," while his friend ended up getting married to his crush.

Jabusch and his high school sweetheart Kay married in 1975, and after graduating from university he returned to Wrangell in 1977 for a summer season to work off student debts. Jabusch recalled he had been interested in working for a business accounting firm in Anchorage at the time, and was finishing concrete that summer when the accounting job at City Hall opened up.

"When I first got here I had a degree in accounting, but I'd never worked in an office before," he said.

Still, despite the lack of formal experience he threw his name into the hat and was one of two candidates being considered. In a strange coincidence, the other candidate has been his college friend's wife from their accounting class.

He got the job, hired by city clerk Joyce Rasler while the city manager was away on vacation.

"I certainly owe a lot to her, taking a chance on someone that didn't really know a whole lot," Jabusch said. Rasler showed him the ropes as far as public accounting went, and soon had him working on grants for various projects. "I think the first couple of years that I was here, Joyce Rasler kind of took me under her wing and mentored me into that position. Once she felt I was at that point where I was on my own, she renamed the position," to finance director.

Rasler herself went on to serve as city manager through much of the 1980s. Another coworker who had helped him through those early years was Franette Vincent, who soon became Rasler's replacement as city clerk.

On the job, Jabusch recalled his first big project was setting up the first office computer at City Hall, in 1979. He had made a commitment to the council to get the new system working.

"I didn't know exactly what that meant. But I learned it meant working a lot of nights and weekends for a looong time," he explained. "Of course since none of us had had our hands on a computer you can imagine it was a bit of a learning curve for all of us."

One of the main problems was a lack of IT support, as the distributor had only limited knowledge of the new technology. After a lot of patience and plenty of hours, with the help of Vincent, Jabusch said the system was finally working after about a year.

"I owe a lot to her, she was just an awesome person," he said.

Big projects

As finance director, Jabusch saw the community grow and develop in many ways.

"I think when I first got here in 1977 the only city street that was paved was from Angerman's to the Diamond C. Everything else was dirt road," he recalled. The city was only just finishing up its first sewage treatment plant in February of 1978, and the boom years of Alaska's oil revenue was making further quality of life improvements possible through grant funding. "Some of those I was a part of and some of those I wasn't."

In the next decade the city was able to build a new Public Safety Building for its police and fire services, and a high school and municipal pool.

The latter projects were some of Jabusch's stand-out projects. Taking advantage of the time's lax arbitrage rules to make good investments using its $8M bond issue on top of a $16M grant, the city was able to help repay those bonds with those proceeds under a generous 90-10 state cost sharing plan. The facilities ended up being built with minimal cost to local taxpayers.

The addition of the Tyee Hydroelectric Plant in 1984 helped stabilize energy supplies and power rates for residents. "That was a huge thing for this community," he said.

After a downturn in the timber industry and the loss of the Wrangell mill in 1994, the city's fortunes seemed grim. From an administrative standpoint, Jabusch recalled the population drop and loss of the main private employer in town threatened the city's ability to pay for public services.

"It was bleak. It was scary bleak," he said. "I think the biggest concern was 'what were we going to do?'"

Things looked up later when then Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) helped secure around $37M for the ailing community. "For a town this size, it was a lot of money," Jabusch noted. "We were able to take some of that money and do things. We built the water treatment plant," for example, using the funds as leverage for grant matches.

The other big project that had stood out in his mind had been Heritage Harbor, which Jabusch explained was initially supposed to cost the city about $6.6M. The Army Corps of Engineers ended up paying for dredging and site work, and combined with cost-sharing and other grant opportunities helped bring the city's final bill down significantly.

"It all kind of fell into place," he said. "When it's all said and done it was a $30M project, and Wrangell's got about $25,000 in it."

Similarly the funds were used to pave roads around town, put in new generators in the power house, build the Nolan Center and Marine Service Center, rebuild the city dock and barge area, construct a number of parks and trails, and contribute to the public golf course. Wrangell was even able to set up its own reserve fund with that settlement money. In the end, Jabusch estimates they were able to get around $200M for projects out of it.

He noted that much of that success had been due to a sympathetic attitude from the state and federal governments for the region after the loss of the timber industry. Not just Wrangell, but Sitka and Ketchikan also benefitted during those post-mill years, he mentioned. Private foundations and innumerable grants have also been of great help to the past 20 years of development.

"There's just a lot of help from a lot of people that helped get us over the hump there," he said.

Looking ahead

Another hump lies ahead, as the state deals with multibillion-dollar budget deficits. Revenue sharing with municipalities and a wide swath of public services and state agencies have taken their cuts, and legislators are currently looking at ways to restructure Alaska's annual individual dividend payments to cover costs. All this has an impact on how the community will be able to pay for its current services and amenities, not to mention constrict development of other projects moving forward.

"The communities are in for a long haul here with the state woes," said Jabusch.

Even when funding had been more flush, projects were not always without contention. Construction of the Nolan Center and public financing for Wrangell Seafoods had both been particularly volatile issues, he recalled, as had funding for a new hospital.

"We've had assembly meetings here where we've had people out on the lawn and down the hallway," Jabusch said. "One time we had to call the fire marshal to see what the occupancy of the building was."

For all that, he pointed out that the community got past their differences and things worked out. The Nolan Center has become an asset for hosting large events and community gatherings, while updates to Wrangell Seafoods, while not panning out in the short-term, ultimately helped make it more useful to Trident Seafoods' current operations.

"It was a long shot to have a single thing where you didn't have the backing of a big corporation," he said of the latter.

Still, favorite parts of the job he kept revisiting were seeing Wrangell grow, getting power, water and sewage service further and further down the island, and new segments of street paved. "The most rewarding part is just working with a variety of people around town," said Jabusch. "It's had its challenges. But not everything is pleasant."

After being named interim manager in the middle of 2013, Jabusch was eventually made the official borough manager that November. He saw it as a final step in a long career minding the town's books, as well as a useful step toward transitioning into retirement.

The addition of Lee Burgess in February 2014 as the new finance director bore a number of parallels to his own start, Jabusch said. Hailing from Michigan, Burgess had some prior office experience but not public accounting chops – which isn't a bad thing, in Jabusch's opinion.

"I think it worked. I know in my case it did," he commented. "He's been here and he's a sharp guy, he'll do a great job." Likewise, he felt City Hall remained in good hands, pointing out the achievements of the past were all part of a team effort. Clerk Kim Lane, economic developer Carol Rushmore, public works director Amber Al-Haddad and Carl Johnson before her, and the office staff; Jabusch commended them all for their part in keeping things moving forward.

"I think we work really well together, and we've been unbelievably successful I think to get the money that helps us realize these things," he said. "Each one of us has our own niche in the process."

Jabusch's part in that process will come to a close at month's end. Turning 65 in December, he has a boat and grandchildren he would like to spend more time with and other projects to see to. Throughout his tenure he has stayed busy with basketball, coaching at times and refereeing games for the high school. Those are activities he would like to continue doing.

"I kind of feel bad leaving at the time I'm leaving," he said. "But it seems there's never a good time. There's always some crisis, and you could just keep going forever."

He and Kay plan to hold a big reception at the Nolan Center this Saturday, with no-host cocktails at 6 p.m. and a buffet to follow at around 7 p.m. Remarks and a presentation will conclude the evening.

"It's just an opportunity to thank people," he said. At first the Jabusch's had considered sending out invitations, but for fear of forgetting someone have made it more of an open house.