Hoquiam deputy police chief honored for spearheading jail expansion

Published 10:00 pm Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Myers gave a brief presentation about the Hoquiam City Jail at Monday’s city council meeting, but that was just a setup to get his Deputy Chief Don Wertanen in the building to honor him for all his work in the recent Hoquiam City Jail expansion.

The unique award was made from “a section of the original city jail that had to be cored out to make room for I think the exhaust for the dryer,” said Myers. “So, I wanted to present this to Deputy Chief Don Wertanen in recognition for his work in conceiving, designing and managing the Hoquiam City Jail expansion project completed April 1, 2016.”

Myers told the council the original design for the expansion was jotted on a napkin and the finished expansion didn’t stray far from that first sketch. “I’m proud of this because I was told I couldn’t do it,” said Wertanen. “I hate to say ‘I,’ but … I started it.” His vision has resulted in room for 12 additional female inmates at the facility, raising the jail’s capacity to 30. Myers concluded by noting Wertanen had just completed his 30th year of service to the City of Hoquiam.