PORT ANGELES — Kevin Gallacci did not plan on a career in public transportation, but 39 years after he began as a temporary facilities maintenance attendant the summer between his first and second years studying diesel mechanics at Peninsula College, he’s retiring as Clallam Transit’s general manager.

Today, Gallacci steps away from the agency with more years than any other employee in its 43-year history.

“This has been the longest month of my career,” Gallacci, 58, said. “As soon as June 1 hit, for whatever reason, things just slowed down. Not that I’m really pushing to run out of here.”

The public is invited to his retirement celebration from noon to 3 p.m. today at Clallam Transit, 830 W. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.

Gallacci got his job at Clallam Transit through an employment agency in June 1984, expecting only to remain until his classes resumed in the fall. But, he said, Dave Fox, then Clallam Transit’s maintenance manager, asked him to stay and then hired him full-time that November.

“He was really supportive of me and probably believed in my abilities more than I did,” Gallacci said. “He hired me for that temporary job, and he worked hard to keep me because he saw something in me at the time.

“They worked my work schedule around my full-time college schedule, so I was able to finish my college education and get my degree.”

Gallacci maintained a busy schedule after graduation, continuing to work full-time for Clallam Transit while also operating his own auto repair business. At another point, he also worked for the Port Angeles School District as a part-time mechanic and ran its parts warehouse.

He considered leaving Clallam Transit after about nine years and going out on his own to do something different, Gallacci said, but he decided to remain when a position for maintenance supervisor became available in 2000. It coincided with the process of relocating Clallam Transit to its current location on Lauridsen Boulevard.

“That was at the beginning of the design of this building and that process,” Gallacci said. “I set up the warehouse and I hired the mechanics and basically set up the maintenance program along with the maintenance manager that was here at the time. That was a real big deal taking that on, but it really worked out well.”

He also established the group Agencies Working Together that met regularly to discuss how public agencies could share services for basically the cost of time and materials, particularly during emergencies.

“We’ve sanded the college’s parking lot when it was a sheet of ice and there was not a private company that could come and do that,” Gallacci said. “If one of the county patch trucks broke down and they needed a little dump truck, if ours was available, we could rent something like that to them. It doesn’t get used a lot, but it’s nice to have it there.”

In April 2017, Gallacci was appointed acting general manager when Wendy Clark-Getzin unexpectedly resigned and that August the board selected him for the permanent position.

Gallacci said coming from the maintenance side of the agency — as opposed to from operations or finance — influenced his management style.

“One thing I found in managing people was allowing others to be leaders and make decisions,” Gallacci said. “I brought that philosophy over into the general manager role and I think that’s worked out very well.”

Gary Abrams, Clallam Transit’s current maintenance manager, was hired by Gallacci in 1995 when he was in the same position.

Abrams said there had been times in the past that Clallam Transit was not running smoothly.

“We are in a better place now than we have ever been in my 28 years,” Abrams said. “The camaraderie between the managers and all departments is really good, where there’s always been the tension in the past before Kevin became in charge.”

Administrative services coordinator Barb Cox said Gallacci would be missed, not just for his vast knowledge of the agency, but for his calm demeanor that set the tone for the entire staff and for his encouragement and support.

“He’s steady at the helm,” said Cox, who has worked at Clallam Transit for six years.

Operations Manager Jim Fetzer will become acting general manager on Saturday. He said Gallacci made sure everything was in order when he left, but that he would nonetheless be missed.

“We absolutely love the guy here,” Fetzer said. “We have a really good organization.”

Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias, who serves on the Clallam Transit board, said Gallacci had steered and grown the agency in a responsive and responsible way that benefitted the community, such as shepherding the Strait Shot to the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal, the Interlink on-demand service and the Hurricane Ridge Shuttle.

“Kevin is leaving the agency in really sound shape in most every regard,” Ozias said. “He’s built a very dependable and fantastic leadership team that the board and the organization have good faith in.”

Ozias said the board would miss Gallacci’s institutional knowledge of Clallam Transit as well as his expertise in wider issues related to public transportation.

“Kevin has been a leader amongst his peers around the state,” Ozias said. “He has really excellent visibility on how transit systems throughout the state interact and how funding flows and the intricacies of different grant programs.”

After nearly four decades of regularly putting his job first and being on call 24/7, Gallacci now faces the challenge of what to do in retirement.

“I think he’s going to enjoy it for a couple of weeks and then he’s going to find something, because he’s always going. I think it’s going to hard for him to shut down,” Fetzer said.

Abrams said it would be impossible for Gallacci to not do something.

“He has to stay busy. He’s that kind of guy,” Abrams said. “He’s gonna go bonkers trying to sit still.”

Gallacci said he is retiring at the right time.

“I remember folks telling me, be careful, don’t work so much, you’ll burn yourself out,” Gallacci said. “I don’t know that I burned out yet, but I’m ready to just do something different.”

Gallacci said his retirement plans include spending time with his four grown children and his grandchildren. He has a couple of road trips on his Harley-Davidson planned for this summer, then there’s playing a little golf, riding his bicycle and driving his ATV in the mountains.

Gallacci said he was very appreciative of his time at Clallam Transit and being able to rise from a young temporary worker to general manager.

“I worked hard for that,” he said. “Treat it like your own money, treat it like your own property and expect people that are working with you to have the same attitude. I think that’s helped me succeed here.”

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached at paula.hunt@soundpublishing.com.