2019-08-14 Salary Commission MinutesSALARY COMMISSION
Meeting Minutes
SPECIALLY CALLED MEETING
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
7:00 pm
Police Department Training Room
250 5t" Ave. N., Edmonds, WA 98020
Present: Jay Grant, Chair
Ava Dubno, Vice -Chair
Don Hall, Commissioner
Jeff Hodson, Commissioner
Carl Zapora Commissioner
Marilynne Beard, Consultant, MMB Consulting (by conference
phone)
Excused:
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Grant called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Chair Grant asked the Commissioners if they had any changes to the agenda.
Commissioner Zapora noted that he had a topic that he wanted to discuss under
Agenda Item 8. Chair Grant agreed that any topic could be introduced under
Other Topics of Interest or Concern. Noting no other comments, the agenda was
approved as submitted.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Grant asked the Commissioners if there were any changes to the Meeting
Minutes of the August 7, 2019 meeting. Chair Grant had communicated to staff
about an edit needed clarifying his communication with the Council President
about Council Committees. With that edit, Commissioner Hodgson moved to
approve the minutes and Vice -Chair Dubno seconded the motion. The motion
was approved unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Chair Grant noted that there were no members of public present to provide
comment.
ELW 7/2/2019
DISCUSSION ITEMS
Review and Update of Additional Data Received since Last Meeting
Cost of Living Adjustments — Staff provided requested information in the
Commission's August 7 packet. The Commissioners noted that it was
useful information to have and a reasonable basis for comparing elected
officials' compensation adjustments with employee adjustments.
• Attendance and Committee Appointments — The City Council's
Administrative Assistant provided three documents showing Council
attendance at regular Council meetings for 2019, Council Committee
appointments and regional committee appointments (see Attachments to
minutes).
The Commissioners discussed that, while there were differences in
attendance among individual Councilmembers, the number of absences
as a percentage of total meetings for the year was not considered
excessive. The Commissioners noted that the one aspect of Council
Committee procedures that has changed is that Councilmembers no
longer report out their attendance and a summary of committee meeting
attended. Chair Grant clarified that the Council had eliminated the reports
typically provided at the end of the Council meeting due to the late hour for
adjournment. She had noted that any significant issues arising out of a
Council or regional committee meeting is discussed in open session.
The Commission agreed that no further information on attendance was
needed at this time.
Council and Community Survey Distribution Update Commission
Ms. Beard noted that the survey was made available on-line on August 13. A
media release was issued on August 13 and a link to the survey was being sent
out to groups on the distribution list as contact information for each group
became available. Chair Grant noted that he has a contact for the Lion's Club.
Commissioner Hodgson had posted a notice on My Edmonds which has about
9,000 subscribers and was contacting other on-line community groups.
Commissioner Hall noted that he had made hard copies of the survey that could
be filled out and turned in at City Hall. The survey will be available until the end
of business on Monday, August 19 and the results will be available for the
Commission's August 21 meeting.
Discussion of Possible Elected Official's Compensation Adjustments
Vice -Chair Dubno noted that she had looked at the practices of City Council
compensation in other states and noted that it varies. In some cases,
Councilmembers receive no compensation.
Chair Grant asked that, if they use CPI as a basis for adjustments, which CPI
measure would be appropriate. For instance, should they use the same CPI
factor used for employee groups? Many cities in the Puget Sound use CPI-W
but some use CPI-U. Commissioner Zapora noted that it made sense to use the
same measure that is used for Edmond's employee groups.
Chair Grant asked each Commissioner to share their thoughts about possible
changes to compensation for the Mayor and City Council.
• Vice -Chair Dubno noted that she is less interested in Cost of Living
Adjustments (COLA's) and more interested in incentives for meeting
attendance.
• Commissioner Hall noted that the Council did not spend a significant
amount of time in committee meetings and some Councilmembers have
more committee appointments than others. As a consequence, it may not
be a consistent measure or accountability for all Councilmembers.
• Commissioner Hodgson noted that he liked the accountability measure of
meeting attendance, although he added that it was not the Salary
Commission's job to hold the City Council accountable. He noted that the
Salary Commission had adjusted compensation in 2017 to bring the
Council up to the average and provided a cost of living adjustment for the
Mayor. He is inclined to provide a COLA and noted that Councilmembers
are not receiving compensation commensurate with the time they devote.
• Commissioner Zapora believes that meeting attendance appears to be a
"non -issue" and the better question to ask is whether City Council and
Mayor's compensation are competitive. Since the Commission addressed
market conditions two years ago, a COLA may be appropriate to stay
competitive with the market. If the survey reveals strong reactions from
the City Council or the public, the Commission should take that into
consideration.
• Chair Grant had provided information from the City of Lynnwood since
they were nearby and provided incentive pay for meeting attendance.
He believes that, while the public does want the Council to be
accountable, they may have a difficult time articulating how that would be
measured. He believes it is reasonable to continue to consider a cost of
living adjustments to keep from lagging comparable cities.
The commissioners discussed whether to consider compensation of special
district elected officials' such as the hospital district, school district and port
district. The Commission agreed to consider the new data including monthly
compensation, benefits and incentive pay for commission/board members and
Chief Executive Officers and the average number of meetings per year attended
by the elected officials. Commissioner Zapora offered to reach out to the three
districts to request the information.
Other Topics of Interest or Concerns
Chair Grant had received a comment from the City Council expressing concern
that some of the Salary Commissioners had endorsed candidates in the current
election and that this may be seen as political activity that would represent a
conflict of interest. Chair Grant stressed that the commission looks at
compensation for positions, not people. In order to ensure that Commissioners
are not engaging in activities that present an actual conflict they asked that the
City Attorney be consulted as to whether there was any conflict. Ms. Beard will
contact the City Attorney.
Topics for the next meeting will include the public hearing, discussion of survey
results and proposals regarding compensation adjustments. The Commission
would like to have a preliminary decision by the end of the next meeting so that
they can finalize their report at the September 11 meeting. The Commission is
scheduled to present their recommendation to the City Council on September 17.
Future Commission Meeting Schedule
Wednesday, August 21, 2019 7:00 pm — Commission Meeting and Public
Hearing
Wednesday, September 11, 2019 7:00 pm — Commission Meeting
OTHER
There were no other items for discussion.
Chair Grant adjourned the meeting at 8:46 p.m.
ATTACHMENTS
City Council Attendance
Council Committee Assignments
Regional Committee Assignments
2019 Council Attendance
Missed
Called -in
Excused?
Buckshnis
5/14/2109
Delegation to DC
5/28/2019
7/9/2019
7/23/2019
8/5/2019
Fraley-Monillas
Johnson
1/2/2019
1/8/2019
1/15/2019
2/12/2019
1/22/2019
2/26/2019
2/19/2019
3/5/2019
3/12/2019
3/26/2019
4/2/2019
4/9/2019
6/25/2019
At AWC Conference
M esaros
2/12/2019
3/12/2019
5/21/2019
5/28/2019
5/28/2019
Nelson
5/28/2019
Teitzel
1/8/2019
1/15/2019
4/2/2019
5/14/2019
Tibbott
1 1/2/2019
CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE REPRESENTATIVES SLOTS
FOR 2019
Committee of the Council
Representative
Planning, Public Safety & Personnel Committee
Mike Nelson, Chair
Neil Tibbott
Parks & Public Works Committee
Kristiana Johnson, Chair
Dave Teitzel
Finance Committee
Diane Buckshnis, Chair
Tom Mesaros
Outside Boards/Commissions/Advisory
Affordable Housing Alliance
Neil Tibbott
Community Transit
Dave Earling- Designee
Kristiana Johnson - Alternate
Disability Board
Diane Buckshnis
Dave Teitzel
Diversity Commission
Adrienne Fraley-Monillas
Economic Development Committee
Neil Tibbott
Historic Preservation Advisory Commission
Kristiana Johnson
Lake Ballinger Work Group
Dave Teitzel
Diane Buckshnis - Alternate
Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
Mike Nelson
Mayor's Climate Protection Committee (Mayor Appoints)
Diane Buckshnis
PFD Oversight Committee
Tom Mesaros
Port of Edmonds
Dave Teitzel
SeaShore Transportation Forum
Tom Mesaros
SN0911
Tom Mesaros
Snohomish County Tomorrow
Kristiana Johnson
Snohomish Health District
Adrienne Fraley-Monillas
Salmon Recovery — WRIA 8
Diane Buckshnis
Tree Board Liaison
Diane Buckshnis
Youth Commission (New)
Mike Nelson
Edmonds City Councilmembers serving on the following regional
Committees (not Council -appointed):
PSRC Executive Board, County Law and Justice Commission, Snotrac (Snohomish County
Transportation Coalition Choices), Subcommittees of Snohomish County Health District: Budget,
Building, and Executive Committee: Adrienne Fraley-Monillas
Affordable Housing Alliance: Neil Tibbott
Puget Sound Regional Council -Transit Oriented Development: Dave Teitzel
Puget Sound Partnership: Diane Buckshnis