POULSBO — The first round of discussions over whether Mayor Kathryn Quade needs a full-time assistant ended in a split decision Aug. 16.

When Quade took office in January 2006, the city council’s finance/administration committee chose to take a “wait-and-see” approach before authorizing a shift in the clerk’s department.

At the Aug. 16 finance/administration committee meetings City Clerk Karol Jones and Quade approached councilmen Jim Henry and Dale Rudolph with another solution.

“We need to make it a full-time position,” Jones said. “Not full-time solely dedicated to the mayor’s office, but to attend committee meetings and do minutes.”

The city has been fortunate to have former county employee Teresa Fox handle those meetings as a casual laborer, but when she leaves the task will fall back on the clerk’s office, Jones said.

“I think in a few years the mayor’s position should be a full-time position,” she said.

The alternative would be to hire a part-time assistant to the mayor and have the city take its chances at finding a casual laborer to attend the committee meetings and ranscribe minutes, Jones said.

Henry asked if a part-time position would enable the mayor to do her job and if having a part-time position would allow the city to find a qualified candidate for the job.

“Let’s just bite the bullet and go ahead and make it a full-time job, because if we don’t, every six months we could be where we are right now,” Henry said.

However, the council might opt to include a two-year sunset clause on the position, so it can see how the position is working, Henry said.

Rudolph immediately stated that he would only support a half-time executive assistant and a casual laborer to handle the committee meetings.

“I’m not going to bump up to full-time and I just don’t think we elected a mayor and a full-time assistant,” he said. “We haven’t had it before.”

Quade responded that the full-time position wouldn’t be dedicated to the mayor’s office, but would handle the committee meetings as well, so it wouldn’t technically be a full-time executive assistant.

In June, Jones told the committee that the clerk’s office’s “workload has substantially increased since Kathryn took office” and asked for help.

The solution was to have Wendy Harris, who works in the clerk’s office, handle Quade’s calendar and other secretarial duties and hire a casual laborer to attend the council’s finance/administration and public works committees and publish minutes from those meetings.

Harris’ last day is Friday, and Fox, who handles the committee meetings, will be assuming those duties until the end of the year.