“Following me around for a day would be super boring,” said Riley Bunnell, the City of Woodland’s public works director and recently appointed city administrator. “I would have a phone.”
He raised a smartphone from the table.
“This is just one of my phones,” he said.
Bunnell’s role as public works director involves extensive coordination and, indeed, a lot of phone calls. A lot of conversations, period, between himself and city officials, crews working on interconnected city projects, as well as curious and impassioned residents.
It’s one of his favorite parts of the job.
Bunnell wants to demystify the workings of city government, particularly public works, for Woodland residents.
“I really emphasize like, come in and have a conversation with us … It makes everybody more informed, and it makes everybody a lot happier that nobody's trying to hide anything. You know, we're 100% open and we want to have that conversation.”
On Sept. 16, he was appointed city administrator — a position that has not been officially filled since 2023. The appointment serves mostly as an acknowledgment and affirmation of the work Bunnell has taken on since he was hired in 2024.
It came about naturally for Bunnell, who doesn’t feel overwhelmed by his responsibilities. In fact, he said, “I work optimally if I'm working at 90-plus percent of capacity.”
He credits his team. He added that because the city of Woodland’s staff is small, each member is used to wearing multiple hats.
By his own description, he has done it all, from working in a ditch to administering a small city. Bunnell began working in water and wastewater infrastructure for Cowlitz County in 2015. He served as a water treatment operator for the city of Woodland in 2021, and then as the water treatment superintendent for the city of Chehalis.
In 2024, he became Woodland’s public works director.
Over the years, infrastructure has provided him a direct sightline into how cities work. He knows firsthand how deeply a city relies on its public works to direct and cope with growth and decline.
Bunnell sees a “big opportunity” in Woodland to anticipate and prepare for infrastructure needs arising from recent growth — industrial and commercial on the west side of the city, and residential on its east.
Residents have reason to wonder what further development will mean for their own bills and services, but Bunnell said, “My whole philosophy is: our existing community base is not here to pay for the new development — the new development is here to ease that strain on the existing residents …”
Bunnell intends to leverage growth, roughly 0.78% since the 2020 census, to support new development and maintain the city’s existing infrastructure. In doing so, he hopes to help preserve the spirit of Woodland, which reminds him of other small Pacific Northwestern towns he has known and loved.
“When I come (to work) in the mornings … I meet the guy that works at True Value, I say hi to him every morning,” Bunnell said. “I say hi to the people at the water softening company, (and) Tiffany May’s Cafe; I mean, it's such that small town feel. That's what it's all about.”
