This week, the proverbial tree fell in the forest and Federal Way heard a thump.

Officials of timber giant Weyerhaeuser announced the company would relocate its headquarters from Federal Way to Seattle in 2016.

Though city and King County officials said it’s been a longtime coming, the move still comes as a huge blow to the city with the loss of 800 jobs. That the city will lose approximately $31,000 in annual sales tax from the company is only a side note.

Some residents have lambasted city officials for “dropping the ball” with Weyerhaeuser.

Mayor Jim Ferrell said he heard the company was considering to move about six weeks ago and sent a letter to the CEO over a week ago. Some have asked why Ferrell didn’t send the letter sooner or do something more to try and keep the company here.

“The bigger question is why hasn’t the mayor been meeting regularly over the years with such a large local employer,” one person commented on our website.

Did city officials do enough to try and keep the company here and is there anyone to blame?

King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer said residents shouldn’t blame the mayor for a corporate decision.

“There’s nothing he could do to entice them financially to stay there,” von Reichbauer said. “When your CEO chooses to live in Seattle and doesn’t encourage his senior management to be involved, it is what it is.”

He said he is “saddened” by the corporation’s “devolution of regional commitment” in the last few years. Under previous leadership, Weyerhaeuser officials made a strong commitment to work on regional issues, from transportation to education, and were more engaged in the community.

But in recent years, as CEO Doyle Simons bought a multi-million condo on Queen Anne, leadership “has been pretty invisible,” von Reichbauer said.

Nevertheless, he thanked George Weyerhaeuser for siting the corporate headquarters of his company here over 40 years ago.

Brian Wilson, the city’s chief of staff, said the company has gone through significant changes, in terms of their business model and presence in Federal Way. Since the company converted into a real estate investment trust in 2010, “there’s been a constant retrenchment of their operations based on their shareholders and their desire to streamline business,” Wilson noted.

In 2004, the company employed over 3,000 here; in 2013 that number dropped to 1,321.

“If you look at what the CEO said and their reasons for moving, none of those have anything to do with city government,” he said. “It has to do with a change in their business model.” A move from a 350,000-square-foot facility here to a 200,000-square-foot building in Seattle is a financial decision, he said.

City and county officials are now moving ahead with optimism in squeezing lemonade from the sour loss.

Wilson said the city is aware of the community’s interest in the Weyerhaeuser campus and is committed to a transparent process that will involve residents.

And leaders are already floating ideas for the site — including a college.

Von Reichbauer’s personal preference is for Central Washington University to potentially extend its profile in the Puget Sound region and have a branch campus in Federal Way.

He said elected leaders should be proactive about finding a good mix of education and commercial development for the site.

“I don’t want a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “We need to come together and figure out how to make this not just a five-year plan, but a 50-year plan or longer.”