LYNNWOOD—After 30-plus years serving the city of Lynnwood, and Public Works Director for the last 16 of those years, Bill Franz is officially retiring this Friday, December 13. He informed the Lynnwood Times that while his tenure serving the people of Lynnwood has been invaluable, he is looking forward to having the time to play music, travel, spend time with his six grandchildren, and get some work done around his house in Mukilteo.
Franz received his degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington and landed his first job out of college working for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). After that his career led him to King County Building and Land.
While working for King County Franz and his wife purchased their first home in Lynnwood, Washington, and fell immediately in love. To serve the community he was becoming to know as his own, and to cut down on the commute to Bellevue, Franz applied for, and was subsequently hired, by Lynnwood as an entry level Civil Engineer in 1991.
Throughout the years he moved up through the ranks to Public Works Director in 2004, spearheading some of the most pivotal Public Works projects in Lynnwood’s history in preparation for a projected population boom and laying the groundwork for the Sound Transit Link light rail which opened earlier this year.
A lot of that work focused on the city’s water and sewage systems, updating pumps in and around the City Center to free up capacity for urban growth. Franz also laid the groundwork for updating the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant which will hopefully be seeing these plans come to fruition in the next few years.
As far as transportation projects go, the two decade-long 196th Street construction process came to a close last year, as well as the rebuilding of 36th Avenue West two years ago, and building two bridges—one over 44th and one over Interstate 5 which are key to allowing commuters in and out of Lynnwood’s Transit Center.
If Franz could choose just one of these projects that he is most proud of working on over the years he informed the Lynnwood Times, it would have to boil down to the 196th Street project.
“196th especially could be a bottleneck before and now I drive up and down that road any time of the night and know I won’t hit traffic because of all the capacity we added there,” said Franz. “Plus, it’s just a beautiful street with the boulevard section we added now, the sidewalks; it’s a real welcome to the new Lynnwood and we got it done right before the rail opened which was our goal.”
Franz’s Department also had the opportunity of leveraging federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, over his career, to dedicate additional dollars on focusing on neighborhood roads such as paving a graveled road on 204th, which was a bucket list item for Franz because it creates a safer route to the nearby school for children.
Now with retirement on the horizon, Franz informed the Lynnwood Times that he has faith that the Public Works team, paired with the City’s Comprehensive Plan, will continue to do great work without him at the helm.
“The City’s in excellent hands. We have a staff who really knows what they’re doing and we have great consultant help too,” said Franz.
Franz continued that after years of working as a Civil Engineer, although he’s retiring, he suspects he will never lose his “engineering eye.” Even while traveling he finds himself constantly taking pictures of catch bases and different city planning decisions.
He continued that his favorite part about his job has been seeing a project through, from conception to completion, sometimes taking decades to put together.
“Lynnwood will always feel like home to me and I’ll be driving these streets probably forever,” said Franz who joked that he always knows who to call to report things to.
While he looks forward to having more free time in retirement Franz said leaving the City of Lynnwood’s staff is bittersweet.
“I’m really going to miss the people; my daily interaction with such great people here in the city,” said Franz. “I know the work will continue to get done and done well. I’m not concerned about that I’m just going to miss the people…that’s just the thing that makes this team feel so special, just watching the interactions and how they go out of their way, even out of their jobs, to help one another. It just boils down to people being good people and caring for each other. What we’re grounded in is what we do for our community and that translate to just better service to our community; that’s what we’re all very proud of.”
Lynnwood’s Franz-led Public Works team has won a number of awards and accolades during his tenure, for example several projects being recognized by the American Public Works Association (APWA), which he said are great to hang on the wall but to Franz, he said, the biggest trophy is seeing a “happy community” and seeing people use, and enjoy, the infrastructure.
The “ribbon of the package” of Franz’s career, both figuratively and literally, was attending the ribbon-cutting event of the Sound Transit Link light rail extension where he was more than satisfied to see such a prodigious turnout but, more importantly, so many people use it daily.
“I know Lynnwood is going great place and it’s in great hands,” said Franz. “I can proudly prepare to leave.”
Outside of work Franz enjoys playing jazz music with his son. As a lifelong trumpeter he has recently made the swap to stand up bass and informed the Lynnwood Times his upcoming retirement will grant him more time to devote to practicing.
Franz and his son play live music as a jazz duo every third Sunday at the Looking Glass Coffee in Snohomish beginning at noon.
In addition to his musical interest, Franz and his wife are looking forward to taking an upcoming trip either to England or Scandinavia to trace their ancestral lineage; Franz has ancestral roots in Finland and Sweden while his wife traced her ancestry back to Britain.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
