The city of Newcastle honored a group Feb. 26 that far too often goes unnoticed — volunteers.

Each year, volunteers devote countless hours to city events. It is volunteers that help plan summer activities, care and advocate for the city’s vast trail network and protect Newcastle’s history.

About 50 volunteers and summer event sponsor representatives gathered at The Golf Club at Newcastle Feb. 26, where they were treated to snacks, an orchestra and a personal thank you from Newcastle Mayor Steve Buri and City Manager Rob Wyman.

Volunteerism is a big part of what makes Newcastle one of the best small cities in the country. So, here’s a special shout out to some of the groups and people that willingly offer their time to better the city:

• Community Activities Commission — Diane Lewis, Linda Newing, Zaquis Ross, Russ Segner, Jim Price and Victoria Sandoval, and past members Angela Ursino and Victoria Hupf
• Planning Commission — Karin Blakely, Elizabeth Thompson, Orville McDonald, Jon Simpson, Rob Lemmon, Allen Dauterman and Thomas Magers
• Boy Scout Troops 499, 577 and 626
• Student volunteers from Hazen High, Liberty High, Maywood Middle and McKnight Middle schools
• Newcastle Trails — Garry Kampen, Peggy Price
• Newcastle Weed Warriors — Grace Stiller
• Newcastle Historical Society
• Little Rhody Park neighborhood group
• Newcastle Days car show planning committee
• Earth Day planning committee
• Newcastle Chamber of Commerce Board

The event also honored the following sponsors that contributed to city events over the summer:

• AvalonBay — Brian Fritz
• Waste Management — David Della
• Regency Newcastle — John Kotalick
• The Golf Club at Newcastle — David Uchida
• Coal Creek Family YMCA — Sara Biancofiori
• Boeing Employees Credit Union — Molly Andrews
• AT&T — Carol Tagayun
• UW/Valley Medical Center — Liz Nolan
• Animal Hospital of Newport Hills — Kent Thomazin
• HomeStreet Bank – Travis Monen
• KeyBank — Jimmy Ng
• Apple Physical Therapy — Randy Johnson

You can find longtime Newcastle residents Jim and Peggy Price on the trails in rain or shine, though.

The husband-and-wife team is very active when it comes to preserving and expanding Newcastle’s walking trails. They were among the founders of the Newcastle Trails organization and continue to remain deeply involved in the nonprofit.

Peggy had a direct hand in designing, routing and building the Terrace Trail and the eastern portion of the May Creek Trail. She now spends a large portion of her weeks working on the CrossTown Trail, which will span from Coal Creek Parkway to Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

Many Eagle Scouts have her to thank for helping them complete their final projects while she dutifully supervised and assisted on their trail extensions.

You can’t talk about the Newcastle trails, without mentioning the Prices, but to them, their passion for the outdoors is just a way of life.

Peggy’s love of trails started early, thanks to annual family camping trips, while Jim picked his up as a boy growing up in Illinois.

The duo met as University of Washington students when Peggy joined Jim’s hiking club.

“After about four hikes, the club was down to two people — the ones who would hike and camp in the rain,” Peggy said.

The last ones standing eventually married a year and a half later, before relocating to Alaska, which features a playground of outdoor activities for the two. They moved to Newcastle in 1986.

The Newcastle Chamber of Commerce has already honored both with Diamond Awards, but with the work they do to promote and expand the city’s greatest recreational amenity, they could easily be nominated every year.

Up next, the Prices will continue their work on the city’s trails and take time to hike a newly rebuilt section of the Pacific Crest Trail near Glacier Peak this summer. The Pacific Crest Trail stretches from Canada to Mexico.

By Christina Corrales-Toy
Mark Rigos, outgoing Newcastle Public Works director, with his son Alexander, speaks at the May Creek Trail ribbon-cutting ceremony Sept. 15.

Newcastle Public Works Director Mark Rigos has only worked with the city for three years, but his impact on the community is so great that when he announced his resignation, at least one resident became emotional at the thought of losing him.

“Honestly, I teared up a little bit,” Newcastle Trails representative Peggy Price said. “He’s been absolutely fabulous to Newcastle Trails. He’s proactive and he backs us up.”

Rigos announced in May that he will leave to become the public works director for the city of North Bend. His last day in Newcastle is June 13.

It wasn’t an easy decision to leave, Rigos said, especially since he has certainly grown to love Newcastle and its residents, but North Bend offers some new opportunities that Newcastle didn’t.

In North Bend, Rigos will manage the city’s water and sewer district, something he couldn’t do in Newcastle, because that falls under the Coal Creek Utility District’s purview. He’ll also get the chance to manage North Bend’s wastewater treatment facility.

“In the private sector, I’ve designed miles and miles of water mains and sewer mains, but I’ve never managed a full facility, a district, a fund, so that will be a new challenge for me that I just haven’t been exposed to yet,” Rigos said.

Rigos wore many different hats during his time in Newcastle. Sometimes, he was a trails manager. Other times, he was like a parks manager. But whatever he did, his constant dedication to customer service touched everyone that came into contact with him.

“He is a very humble leader and I liken him to a modern day Nehemiah, doing his best for others and the city with a sincere purpose and calling,” Newcastle Weed Warriors President Grace Stiller said.

Along with his staff, Rigos managed several sidewalk projects, oversaw a tricky landslide-stabilization project along Newcastle Golf Club Road, worked with Newcastle Trails to develop and acquire new trails, and guided the city through some major pavement rehabilitation projects in his three years.

His proudest accomplishment was the huge strides the city’s stormwater division made under his watch, he said. He credited surface water engineer Laura Frolich and infrastructure manager Brian Smith for making sure the city was dialed in on capital and maintenance needs.

“I’ve had a wonderful staff. There’s certainly no I in team,” Rigos said. “My staff has just been incredible in getting these projects done.”

Rigos is known for going the extra mile, City Manager Rob Wyman said. Whether it was finding a way to give west end residents their Little Rhody Park, even after the grant they applied for was denied, or bringing his son along to an off-hours May Creek Trail ribbon-cutting ceremony, Rigos always put in the extra effort to make something special.

“He was a true member of the community here,” Wyman said. “I’m going to personally miss him quite a bit, and going to miss all he’s done.”

Rigos has a long list of things he will miss about Newcastle, he said, among them, the people, the City Council, his staff and his city manager.

He doesn’t expect to stay a stranger, though. Rigos, an Issaquah resident, already has plans to attend the city’s Fourth of July event and maybe make it out for one of the city’s Concerts in the Park series.

“I’ll especially miss folks like Peggy Price, Garry Kampen, Grace Stiller and Lee Strom,” he said. “There are so many people that contribute in so many different ways to Newcastle, and that makes it a neat small town.”

Rigos joined the Newcastle staff in 2011. Prior to that, he spent 12 years as a senior project manager at Concept Engineering. He holds bachelor’s degrees in civil engineering and biology from Washington State University, and a master’s in business administration from Seattle University.

Wyman now has the arduous task of finding Rigos’ replacement. Whoever it is, he or she will certainly have some big shoes to fill.

“He’s not been a typical public works director,” Wyman said. “That’s the big challenge I have in trying to replace him.”

Rigos, who will start his new North Bend job June 16, does have some advice for the person that follows him, though.

“Public safety is always No. 1 in my mind, and as a civil engineer, it has to be, but almost equally important is excellent customer service,” he said. “Customer service is often overlooked in a public servant and I think it’s especially important in a small town like Newcastle.”

Prior to the walk, sponsored by Newcastle Trails and Weed Warriors, a speaker will talk about native edible plants along the trail. Participants should wear sturdy shoes and dress for the weather. Meet at the Lake Boren Park map kiosk near the restrooms, 13058 S.E. 84th Way.

Jim Price joined Garry Kampen, Giles Velte and other trail enthusiasts in 2002 to form Newcastle Trails, and his wife Peggy Price joined soon after. Since, Newcastle has become a “trail city” with a network of trails that provides access throughout the city and connects to trails in Bellevue, Renton and Issaquah.

The East May Creek Trail is walkable from Coal Creek Parkway down to the “picnic site” (logs make ad hoc benches and tables) just down May Creek from the mouth of Boren Creek.

From there, a rough trail exists all the way to the existing May Creek Trail. The section along the creek is being steadily improved by Newcastle Trails volunteers working closely with the city of Newcastle.

The final sections up to the existing trail will be completed as a series of Eagle Scout projects.

Working with officials from Newcastle and Renton, the trails organization has identified a possible route and bridge location for the extension of the May Creek Trail west into the city of Renton.

The group is also examining the prospect of resuming work on the East CrossTown Trail when the Newcastle Vista subdivision goes in later this year.

Many volunteers will be needed to help to get the trails finished quickly.

Email Peggy Price at info@newcastletrails.org to volunteer.