Special meeting focuses on salaries and executive structure for Poulsbo

POULSBO — The salaries of the mayor of Poulsbo and municipal judge, as well as a possible shift in the executive structure of the city, were the topics of a special city council meeting on April 25.

No action was taken by the council at the meeting since it was limited to informing and discussing the different options associated with salary changes and executive structure. Council member Ken Thomas led the workshop.

“The growing administrative leadership duties, the practical needs along with reasons requiring the mayor’s participation and leadership on regional boards and commissions, may have reached a point that an organizational review of the executive office itself is in order,” Thomas said.

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The two possibilities for executive restructuring discussed at the meeting were a switch to a city manager arrangement or the appointment of a city administrator who would serve the mayor. Changing to a city manager system would require a vote by the public during a general election, but appointing a city administrator would not.

Generally, a city manager handles the majority of administrative tasks associated with the executive office and the mayor would act in a more ceremonial capacity, appearing at public events, signing documents approved by the manager and handling media requests. A manager would be selected by a majority vote of the City Council. In this arrangement, the mayor is generally paid less than a city manager. For instance, in 2017 the City of Bainbridge Island paid its mayor $15,000 and their city manager received $173,064.

An administrator would serve at the discretion of the mayor. In this arrangement, the administrator would remain after the mayor’s term ended, effectively creating a professional position within City Hall. The mayor would have the ability to hire or fire an administrator at their own discretion as well. Similar to the city manager, a city administrator would likely make more than the mayor. For instance, in 2017, Arlington paid its mayor $30,000 and the city administrator received $177,360.

“The first question is, why are we even having the workshop?” Thomas said at the start of the salaries discussion. “The Poulsbo city court judge, the mayor of the City of Poulsbo, have had increasing hours to their duties.”

Thomas explained that in addition to the jobs requiring more hours, they have also become increasingly complex.

“There’s been no City Council review of the compensation for either office for decades, really,” he added.

During the meeting, Thomas explained that triangulating a fix on the appropriate salaries would be reached by looking at comparable jobs in similar cities and duties versus value to the city, as well as internal alignment of salary compared to other professionals within the City of Poulsbo.

In the case for Judge Tolman’s raise, Thomas explained the judge has seen an increase in municipal court hearings since 2014, which totalled 2,878 hearings. In 2017, Tolman presided over 4,142 hearings. An increase to Tolman’s hours was also recommended by the Administrative Office of the Courts to .52 full-time equivalency (FTE). Tolman currently works in a .39 FTE capacity. Thomas also noted that an increase made to the judge’s hours would have a correlating increase in his benefits as well.

Thomas noted that the Finance/Administration Committee proposed a number of different options for addressing Tolman’s compensation and hours, but the option recommended by the committee (referred to as Option D) sees an increase to .52 FTE and a salary increase of $16,356. The judge would make $75,373 annually if this option is approved.

Council member Jeff McGinty voiced his thoughts on Judge Tolman’s work.

“I’ve known Tolman for probably 25 years and I know he doesn’t do that job for the money,” McGinty said.

“You compare what he could make in private industry as a lawyer versus what he’s getting paid on the judge’s bench, and [what he’s getting paid is] minimal. So I think what we’re trying to do here is just look at … the workload, what’s fair compensation for that, no matter who it is.”

“Asking Jeff, just knowing him, he’s not going to come up and say, ‘I think I should make more money.’ He’s just not going to do that,” McGinty added.

In assessing the mayor’s compensation, Thomas noted the mayor serves on more than 20 regional councils, boards, committees and other groups. He said these numerous associations have played a large part in the many grants received for city projects.

“One way to gauge the effectiveness of the mayor’s involvement in leadership in these regional associations and inter-governmental boards is to look at the number of grants and the amount of funding those grants have delivered to the City of Poulsbo for use in public works projects, transportation improvements, safety and law enforcement, parks, environmental improvements and behavioral health programs,” Thomas said at the meeting.

“Since 2010, the City of Poulsbo has obtained over 62 separate grants to fund those projects.”

Thomas conceded that acquiring grant funding was a team effort but said that, “without the mayor’s heavy involvement many of these grants would not have been obtained.”

Over the course of her three terms, Thomas said, Mayor Erickson has obtained $17 million for the city.

The Finance/Administration Committee did not vote on a recommendation about which option to pursue, but Thomas himself recommended pursuing an increase to the mayor’s salary from $76,172 to $95,046, with cost of living adjustments for the duration of the mayor’s current four-year term.

At the meeting, Erickson said, “[It’s] self-evident to me that this job is very different than it was 25 years ago, for both the judge and the mayor. To pay them the same amount, I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

As for why she approached the council to raise Judge Tolman’s salary as well as her own, Erickson said, “All of my life, I have believed that you pay fair wages for hours worked, and in that way, you get quality performance from employees. It’s not only the best way to get the best job done but it’s also the moral thing to do. You do not systematically underpay people — it’s wrong.”

— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter for Kitsap News Group. Nick can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.