Jim Puttman was the man of the hour when friends and family gathered in downtown Enumclaw, but there was a special guest on hand – King County Councilman Reagan Dunn arrived to formally recognize Puttman for his decades of service to the community.

The shindig was arranged through Dunn’s office and with the help of Judi Puttman, Jim’s daughter, who managed to keep her father in the dark. It was originally planned for last summer, but COVID pushed plans back a year.

Gathered at the City Hall gazebo on June 24, Dunn offered up a formal King County proclamation honoring the unofficial “Mayor of Krain,” a reference to the rural area north of Enumclaw.

Heading the “Whereas” list of achievements was Puttman’s dedication to the citizens of Drainage District 13. He retired as a district commissioner after 43 years of service. The recognition was doubly poignant because he followed in the footsteps of his father Frank who, in 1923, became one of the drainage district’s first commissioners.

Dunn’s proclamation cited Puttman’s “remarkable career of public service (that) included being a charter member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Enumclaw/District 5030, the former Enumclaw Community Hospital Foundation, as well as four decades of service as a board member on the previously named Enumclaw Community Hospital and a former president of the Enumclaw Chamber of Commerce.”

The proclamation went on to note, “it is hard to imagine the Krain community without Jim’s influence and guidance through his many years of service.” In the end, it recognized “commissioner/mayor/charter member/president Jim Puttman.”