Buckley council members last week approved a number of changes to the city’s employee salary scale – but not before hearing spirited debate from council member Marvin Sundstrom over the modifications.
The changes, approved by the council on April 12, include shifting the fire chief’s wage up to match the police chief’s. They also boosted the official responsibilities (and pay) of the city’s Firefighter / EMT position to Firefighter / Fire Marshall, and added a grant-funded intern position to the Youth Center. The changes also slightly boosted the hours for the Municipal Court Administrator, among other modifications and job re-structuring.
Sundstrom, the lone no vote, denounced the city’s salary grid and said the council is “being asked to bail the executive out.”
“This salary grid is about as sad a piece of thing as I’ve ever seen,” Sundstrom said. “We are not bringing enough money into the city to cover all of our costs. … I can’t vote to approve this because I don’t think we can afford it.”
Other council members disagreed.
“You couldn’t benefit (the citizens) more than to hire them and pay them what they’re worth,” Council member Lyn Rose said. “We have an excellent fire chief and police chief, and it would be an insult – it wouldn’t even be competitive – to pay an inadequate salary to those people who are so qualified.”
“The city is losing employees hand over fist,” City Administrator Dave Schmidt added. “And they’re losing employees to the larger cities … We have to be creative somehow to be able to retain qualified staff.”
Council member Brandon Green, who is a volunteer at the fire department, recused himself from the vote. All other members voted in favor, except for Sundstrom, and the changes were approved.
Also on Tuesday, the council…
• Approved an ordinance for the City to vacate a strip of Felton Street, which is a thin line of property located between Highway 165 and Mundy Loss Road and south of a wetland area adjacent to Highway 410. The portion of Felton Street is basically a grassy field, and according to the text of the ordinance, is “not in use as a public right-of-way.” All council members voted in favor except for Sundstrom, who expressed concern that the city was undervaluing the property in the sale. The vacation was approved.
• Approved an agreement with Gunderson Law Office to serve as the City’s prosecutor starting May 1. Gunderson, based in Puyallup, already offers its prosecuting services for Black Diamond, Covington and Sumner. The contract will pay a monthly base rate of $6,500. Without discussion, the council voted to approve the deal. Sundstrom was the lone vote against it.
• Unanimously approved an addendum to their 2016 agreement with independent contractor and domestic violence victim advocate Nancy Shattuck, increasing her salary from $30 to $35 per hour. Shattuck provides services for victims of domestic violence in the city and had not requested a raise before this year, according to the addendum.
• Unanimously voted to award a bid for pavement preservation on 112th Street East to Pacific-based Icon Materials for the price of $533,494. The work will span SR 165 to Mundy Loss Road. A supplemental agreement with Gray & Osborne was also unanimously approved to allow the firm to manage and inspect the project for $53,672. (85 percent of that cost comes from transportation grants.)
• Unanimously voted to approve an addendum to their 2016 agreement with 4LEAF, Inc., an engineering consultant. They followed it up with unanimous approval for the city to work with Sound Inspection Services, a solo proprietorship by Buckley resident Frank Mellas. The City intends to retain his services as well as those of 4LEAF.
