WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Whatcom County has appointed a new top planner.

The Whatcom County Council voted unanimously Tuesday night, Aug. 11 to approve James Marks as the county’s director of planning and development services.

He succeeds Mark Personius, who retired in the spring after 13 years with the county.

Marks brings more than 20 years of experience with managing teams across public planning and transportation, most recently as a planning principal in Alaska with HDR Engineering.

He also served as planning director for the Alaska Municipal League and as the director of planning and program development at the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Marks says he’s already taken time to get familiar with Whatcom County’s operations and feels confident he can step right in.

“I heard about the challenges, the workload staffing, customer frustrations … to get a sense of what some of the pressing issues are,” Marks told the council. “Improving complicated processes, building a culture of continuous improvement, developing and supporting strong, high-performing teams, these are all things I know, they’re my wheelhouse.”

Marks says he’s welcoming the move from Alaska with his family to be closer to relatives.

He will start the job on Sept. 14.