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Worley 'a lifer' in Quincy
Doug Flanagan/Post-Register
Part of Carl Worley’s job as the City of Quincy’s building department official is to attend council meetings to deliver updates.
For the past five years, Carl Worley has served as the City of Quincy’s building department official, making sure codes are in compliance, reviewing plans and conducting inspections.
Worley enjoys the job, even though he knows that working in a small-town environment can present positive and negative challenges for the same reasons.
“At times it’s frustrating when you have to tell somebody they can’t do something they want to do, and then you see them in town a few days later and they kind of give you a look,” Worley said. “But at the same time, when you are able to help somebody and see them later, it can be rewarding.”
Worley grew up in Quincy and attended Washington State University, where he majored in landscape architecture. Returning to settle down in Quincy wasn’t necessarily in his plans at the time, but over the years he’s embraced his roots.
“I enjoyed drafting and mechanical drawing in high school, and in college I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I liked the (landscape architecture) program and degree,” he said. “I thought I’d go somewhere and do that for a while, maybe open up my own business. But I got back to Quincy and I thought, ‘This isn’t so bad.’ It was like I got stuck in a vacuum.”
Worley has been an employee of the City of Quincy for 19 years; before assuming his current role, he worked for 12 years in the public works department, performing maintenance work for the city’s parks and other buildings. “I was able to use my degree to help me get that job, he said. “But the city wasn’t able to keep a building inspector in the department, and the job kept opening up and getting filled. Working in a small town, you have to be able to wear a lot of hats, and I wanted to try to broaden my horizons, so I applied for the job and here I am.”
Worley said his job got interesting when Microsoft, Yahoo and Intuit built their data centers in Quincy.
“I was cruising there for a while. Things were mellow until the big guys showed up,” he said. “Then I was kind of overwhelmed. It was pretty big stuff. But they agreed to train me as we went along. We were able to contract a company out of the Tri-Cities, and we’d send them things to review, so we were bothering them frequently while we were getting a feel for how things worked and we got brave enough to try ourselves. We got a lot of support on those projects.”
As a veteran employee of the city, Worley enjoys seeing the area grow and being involved in a variety of aspects to help the growth.
“I like to see things expand,” he said. “Things have really improved. Like I said, you have to wear a lot of hats here, and we work with other departments to help them out. We have to be team players. It’s been good for the most part.”
As a big sports fan, Worley knows a lot about being a team player. As a Washington State alum, he rides the ups and downs — mostly downs lately — of the Cougars football team. “As a Cougs fan, you just have to ride it out until they get good again. It will happen,” he said. “Brock (Laughlin, the city’s building inspector and Worley’s office partner) is a Husky fan, so things can get pretty ugly around here.”
For the past few years, Worley has served as a member of the “chain gang,” roaming the sidelines during the Quincy High School football team’s home games.
“I love doing that,” he said. “I get to be part of the game, but I don’t get booed or yelled at like the officials do. I also get to go behind the goal posts and catch the extra points, so I see that as a bit of a challenge. I don’t want to drop it.”
For a few years, Worley and a group of buddies exercised their competitive natures by playing a game called walleyball at the Quincy Athletic Club.
“It’s basically a cross between racquetball and volleyball,” said Worley, who also counts golf and camping as hobbies. “You get to use the racquetball wall, and it’s fun. The club owner at the time kind of stumbled across it, and we got into it. It gives us short, fat guys who can’t jump a chance to do some tricks. We don’t do it much anymore, but back when the club had two courts we’d have as many as 12 guys going strong down there.”
Worley and his wife, Bonnie, have three children — daughters Brette and Tia, and son, Tony. They also have a 4-month-old grandson who visits often.
“He keeps us busy,” Worley said. “It’s fun because I get to relive my childhood. They have cooler toys nowadays that are fun to play around with."
