City Administrator Tim Snead in “right place at right time”

QUINCY – If there is anyone who truly believes the adage, “things happen for a reason,” that person has to be Quincy City Administrator Tim Snead.

In November of 2004 Snead lost an election for a fourth term as a Grant County Commissioner. The loss forced – you could say allowed – him to apply for the position at Quincy.

Snead started on March 1, 2005, just before the start of the server farm boom that tied the community to the major Internet players.

“I had no idea,” he said.

That boom has changed the city's fortunes. Upgrades have been and are being made all over. Seventy-five percent of the streets have been overlayed.

“I'm in the right place at the right time,” Snead said. “It's been a fun ride.”

An interesting ride too. A folksy man with an unassuming personality, Snead launched his work career with a hoe at the age of 12 on his uncle's dry land farm near Lind.

“There's 500 acres, here's your water bag and your lunch. See you at seven,” his uncle said that first morning.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed, the young Snead was excited. Work, and the pay that came with it, was far “better than being bored at home.”

At 14, Snead moved up the ladder because of a chance circumstance. A fire at the John Deere agency in Lind, in which his father was a partner, caused the need for new building.

Snead was given the clean-up chore. He moved tractor and machinery parts from the old to the new building and, in the process, learned about parts.

“I wanted to keep going. So I asked for the job,” he said.

After graduating from Moses Lake High School, Snead moved on to Eastern Washington University. He paid his own way, with some help from his father.

To do that, Snead attended EWU two quarters at a time. He worked the other half year at John Deere. He graduated with a business administration degree with an economics minor.

Snead returned to the agency and continued to work in parts. Then he was given the job of comptroller, which meant responsibility for the fiscal health of the company. He dealt with banks and collections and everything in between.

A big change occurred in the mid-1980s when Snead's father sold out. Snead went to work as a buyer for Columbia Producers, a farming, feed and grain company.

“I learned a lot,” he said.

In 1992 Snead ran for the county commission for the first time. He started serving in 1993.

In 2005, when Snead arrived at his new post with the City of Quincy, Quincy was just another small town with little money. Then Microsoft announced it would build an Internet server farm at Port of Quincy property, which had been recently annexed into the city.

Microsoft had found the perfect place – cheap rates – for its electricity-demanding servers. Quincy city leaders were excited. Somehow, they sensed, the future would be brighter.

Two months later Yahoo announced. Five months later it was Intuit.

The first three are up and running. Dell and Sabey are close to starting up, and Vantage is under construction.

“We have a real good working relationship with all of them,” Snead said.

With good reason. The server farms have caused the city's coffers to fill. Overflow, envious similarly-sized cities might say.

Under consideration now is a new police station. But there is no talk of a construction bond election.

“We don't plan to borrow to build it,” Snead said.

The assessed value of all property within the city in 2005 was $160 million, Snead noted. In 2010 it was $1.1 billion.

In 2003, property taxes generated $786,000 for the city. In 2011 they generated $3.6 million.

Also making a big jump was the money generated by sales taxes. It went from about $700,000 in 2005 to several years now of about $4 million. And those numbers will continue to grow.

The city has created reserves in several funds, including $2 million in the general fund. But it hasn't sat on all of the money.

Lauzier Park is now one of the most impressive small town parks. It has new baseball and soccer fields, as well as lighted tennis courts and basketball courts. There is a practice wall for tennis, racquet ball and soccer players.

“We're putting in an amphitheatre this spring,” Snead said “Amenities like picnic tables have been added to all parks.”

The city has added an engineer and recreation director to its staff and a captain at the police department.

“The police department is a full strength now,” Snead said. “We've added needed technology. We have newer cars.”

In November, the city dedicated a new $1 million public library.