A Seamless Change in Port Engineering Leadership Expected, Thanks to Forward Planning
Dave Nakagawara, who has worked at the Port for the past three years alongside Matt Klontz, is ready to hit the ground running.
Though Matt Klontz, the Port of Port Townsend’s top engineer, is stepping away from the Port, there will be no lag time in catching up his replacement as Klontz will be replaced by the civil engineer with Dave Nakagawara, who has worked at the Port for the past three years alongside Klontz.
“We’re sorry to see Matt go,” said Port Executive Director Eron Berg. “But we’re glad he’ll remain nearby in Port Townsend, and available to continue working on Port projects. He’s done excellent work. And we feel lucky that his engineering partner, Dave, is willing to step into the job. We’re in the middle of a lot of projects, and there’s much more ahead.”
Klontz is planning to start his own civil engineering company and plans to remain in Port Townsend. In fact, he expects to rent an office from his old employer and do business from Point Hudson.
Klontz, who graduated from Port Townsend High School, was hired as the Port’s Capital Projects Director and chief engineer in November 2021. At the time, he had spent six years as the Public Works director and chief engineer for the City of Sequim. Prior to that, he had worked on big highway projects in the I-5 corridor.
Klontz instantly had to hit the ground running. Several big Port projects were in the pipeline.
Thanks to taxpayer and grant support, the Port had lined up the funding. It was Klontz’s job to make them happen.
At the top of that list was the complete rebuild of the jetties that protect the mouth of the Point Hudson Marina. Klontz managed the entire process, including the work by the contractor, Orion, that completed the second phase of new breakwaters in early 2024.
Klontz was also in the middle of several other major infrastructure projects. That included the completed rebuild of the Boat Haven Boatyard stormwater system, the second taxi connector for Jefferson County International Airport, a new fuel tank for the airport, and planning the rebuild of the Boat Haven breakwater. Construction on that latter project should begin in September.
Klontz also played a central role in Port plans to expand the Boatyard, with a smaller expansion planned to the north and a larger one to the west.
Because there were so many projects, three years ago, Klontz asked Dave Nakagawara to join him at the Port in mid-2023. Nakagawara had been a building official with Port Townsend’s Planning and Community Development department. Nakagawara had already worked with
Klontz for the City of Sequim.
Before that, Nakagawara was an engineer in Arizona, including as director of Community Development in Tempe, Arizona. “His experience in community development has been and will continue to be a help to the port,” Berg said, adding, “No projects proceed without permits!”
The long relationship between the two engineers will pay off in this job transition, said both men.
“We talk all the time,” said Klontz. “Whoever is the lead on a project, we spend a lot of time communicating and using each others’ expertise. Dave is not starting from zero. He’s on the top floor, not the ground floor.”
“We have worked together for such a long time that we know each others’ strengths and working styles,” Nakagawara said.
Still, Nakagawara now faces a daunting workload, at least until they’re able to hire his replacement, which Berg anticipates happening over the summer.
One of Nakagawara’s projects is planning and now managing the ongoing work to replace the asbestos roofing of Point Hudson’s historic buildings, which involved coordinating with a number of local and state agencies. It will be replaced with metal roofing that should, he said,
“give us an additional 50 years of life to these buildings.”
The Boatyard expansion work now falls squarely into Nakagawara’s lap, along with many other projects. He’s diving into the Boat Haven breakwater repair.
