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Paul Grattet, former city manager, dies at 74

He helped Vancouver purchase homes on Officers Row

By Dave Kern
Published: August 23, 2010, 12:00am

Former Vancouver City Manager Paul Grattet died Wednesday in Denver, Colo. He was 74.

He held the city’s top management job from 1980 to 1990.

“He felt he had such good councils and mayors,” said his wife, Jean Grattet. Paul Grattet served under mayors Jim Justin, Bryce Seidl and Bruce Hagensen. “Those were exciting days in Vancouver.”

During that decade, the city purchased the houses on Officers Row for $1 from the federal government. The houses formerly were managed by the Veterans Administration.

Jean Grattet said her husband also was proud of bringing the Nihonga art exhibit to the city. Kyocera Industrial Ceramics Corp. decided to move to Vancouver during Grattet’s tenure.

“He was great to work with,” said Kelly Punteney, a former longtime city employee. “He was fair. He was sensitive.

“I worked with him a lot on the downtown plan and the Central Park plan. You’ve got to give him a lot of credit on getting Officers Row accomplished.”

“Paul brought to Vancouver a spirit of optimism and enthusiasm for moving ahead,” said John Marshall, a former assistant to Grattet. “He maintained a belief in cities and in the potential Vancouver had as a city, what it could become.

“He didn’t see anything that couldn’t be accomplished. He said, ‘This is a tremendous place and people seem to underappreciate it.”

Paul Grattet left Vancouver to become the city manager in Greeley, Colo., a job he held until 1998.

A few years later, Paul Grattet would fly in from Colorado and work part time for the Fort Vancouver National Trust, then known as the Vancouver Historic Reserve Trust.

In July 2001 he told a Columbian reporter, “I love this historic preservation stuff.”

The Grattets have five grown children.

A memorial service is set for Oct. 1, with burial in Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

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