City hires new planning and public works staff

In another round of staffing changes, the city of Blaine announced two new hires.

Most recently, Andrew Boucher was hired as community planner 1 for the Community Development Services department. He replaced Maddie Ottley who resigned in June.

Previously, Boucher served the city of Warren, Minnesota through Minnesota GreenCorps, a statewide program created to preserve and protect the environment.

Boucher began working in Blaine on July 23. He’ll act as the point of contact for the public on matters related to city planning and zoning. His position will eventually transition to include municipal code enforcement.

Also new to the city is Samuel Castro who started as assistant public works director on June 18.

Before that, Castro was the public works director in Pend Oreille County, located north of Spokane. He has 25 years’ of experience working in public works and has also earned safety and emergency management certifications.

Castro oversees the maintenance and operations at the Blaine Public Works Department and provides support to the management of facilities and park activities.

Ed. Note: The original version of this story misspelled Andrew Boucher's name. We regret the error.