As the city of Sammamish’s community services coordinator, Allison Gubata’s main task right  now is to identify the services, resources and service providers in the community and nearby cities.

The part-time position is so new, even Gubata and Jessi Bon, the city’s parks and recreation director, aren’t sure how it will develop.

A key piece of the position will be to define the city’s role in connecting people to various services, Bon said.

They do know it is not the city’s goal to be the provider of community services, but rather a communications hub that connects people with the services they seek.

Gubata first joined the city staff as an administrative assistant in the finance department seven years ago.

Being a process-oriented and organized person, she said she is comfortable tackling the challenges of her new position.

Gubata’s job thus far has been to understand what organizations the city currently collaborates with and to gather information.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Bon said.

Gubata also has been reaching out to service providers in the more “diverse” and “mature” cities like Redmond and Issaquah, she said.

After understanding and identifying what services are out there, the next step will be to pinpoint the service gaps within Sammamish.

Gubata began in her new position July 1 and immediately began reaching out to local nonprofits.

The position used to be covered under former Sammamish volunteer coordinators’ job description but volunteer programs have “boomed,” Bon said.

It was too much for one person to juggle the volunteer projects throughout the city and to take on the community coordinator role.

Gubata and Bon hope to have an update on Gubata’s progress for the Sammamish City Council later this year.

To connect with Gubata, email her at agubata@sammamish.us or call 425-295-0579.