Royal City honors retiring public works director

ROYAL CITY — The City of Royal City said goodbye to longtime Public Works Director John Lasen with a small retirement party Friday at City Hall. 

“For years and years, it seemed like Royal City was the same forever and ever,” Royal City Mayor Michael Christensen said at the celebration. “But in these last 10 years in particular, we've seen some considerable change, and John has been a significant part of that, helping see the vision and oversee some of the big projects that we've done.” 

Lasen has worked for the city for 23 years cumulatively, he said, from 1995 to 2002 and then again since 2008. 

“I'd taken a job (in 2002) down in the Yakima area that didn't work out, and then after that, they'd already hired somebody to replace me here,” Lasen said. 

He spent a few years as the public works director in Mattawa, but that wasn’t for him either, he said. 

“I was given an opportunity to come back to work for Royal City as the wastewater treatment plant operator,” he said. “That (plant) was one of the things that was near and dear to me; it was one of the things that was constructed when I was here for my first stretch. I knew it well, I had the license, so I came back to work there, and then the public works director quit, and there I was.” 

“I've worked with John for probably most of those 23 years off and on and really appreciate his professionalism and his commitment to the community,” said Jake Hollopeter, an engineer with Anderson Perry, which has handled many of the city’s projects. 

“Through the years, I've had really good support from the council and mayor,” Lasen said. “They've seen my visions ... I always tried to make sure we shot for the moon, put longevity into anything that we planned. We wanted 20 years or better of life out of anything that we were planning.” 

Lasen, originally from Washtucna, didn’t really have a plan when he graduated from high school. 

“I went down to the Tri-Cities and sowed my wild oats,” he said. “I wasn’t interested in further education or anything like that. I decided to just become a workaday guy, and I found out quick (that) without any skill I wasn't getting anywhere, and I was getting there fast.” 

So Lasen joined the Air Force in the hope of getting some training that would help him in civilian life, and after aptitude testing gave him a list of training tracks, he opted for Environmental Support Specialist. He spent 16 1/2 years in the Air Force, he said. 

At his first station in West Germany, Lasen met Karen, who was taking classes through the Air Force Community College while her father was stationed there. The two married in Denmark, Karen Lasen said, and have been married for 45 years. 

“I followed him from Air Force base to Air Force base, just like my mother had followed my dad,” she said. “Then he retired, and he put in a couple of applications. So we came down here and checked out Royal City and he really liked it.” 

It was a good place to raise their daughter, Marissa Scroggins, Lasen said. 

“One of the things that brought me to Royal City was consideration for her,” he said. “I wanted a small-town atmosphere for her education. I didn't want the big city attractions for somebody when they're young.” 

“(My husband and I) tried to leave and came back, because you just don't really get Royal out of your blood,” Scroggins said. “You're always gonna come back.” 

Lasen’s replacement at Public Works is Curt Carpenter of Moses Lake, who’s well known in the Basin. He’s worked in the city of Moses Lake’s engineering department and was the Director of Public Works for the city of Othello until last year, as well as putting in seven years as the general manager of the Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District.  

“He's gonna do some good for the city,” Lasen said. “I'm really happy with the choice that the city (made) bringing him on board. He's got good credentials.” 

Carpenter will take over several projects that are in the works to keep up with Royal City’s recent growth, Lasen said.  

“We were starting to lose capacity in the waste treatment plants,” he said. “We have to build more capacity in there; otherwise, we won't be able to grow anymore. The first few years I was here, we put one or two houses in or something like that … so we had plenty of room at the treatment plant. Then all of a sudden, boom. We started getting hit with development after development.” 

Adding a third well for the city is also a priority, Lasen said.  

“It won't give us any more water rights, but it will give us a more hardy water system,” Lasen said. “There was never any time I lost more sleep than when we had one well down for any kind of problem because that meant we were down to one well, so to have a third one in the circle would be nice. And then we need to build capacity in our distribution system, namely the reservoirs. So there's a lot of projects yet to be done that are a part of our six-year plan.” 

Lasen said he hadn’t made a lot of plans for post-retirement life except to enjoy the time with his family.  

“He works really hard,” Scroggins said. “He definitely deserves to ... spend some time with my mom and do what he wants to do, rather than what he has to do.” 

    Jake Hollopeter, an engineer with Anderson Perry, congratulates John Lasen on his retirement as Royal City’s public works director.