2018, 11-29 meeting summary SCITYokanepOFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK
Valle Christine Bainbridge,City Clerk
10210 E Sprague Avenue • Spokane Valley WA 99206
Phone: (509)720-5102 •Fax:(509)720-5075 •www.spokanevalley.org
cbainbridge @ spokaneval ley.org
SPOKANE VALLEY INDEPENDENT SALARY COMMISSION
Spokane Valley City Hall, Conference Room N212
November 29, 2018 Meeting Summary
Commission Members Present: Staff Present:
Bill Gothmann, Chair Staff Liaison: Cary Driskell,City Attorney
Steve Robertson John Whitehead,Human Resources Manager
Chuck Simpson Chris Bainbridge,City Clerk
Tes Sturges,Vice-chair
Kathe Williams
Alternate Commissioner: Mike Moore
Others Present: three citizens
Meeting Summary:
City Attorney Driskell convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.,after which it was determined that staff would set
the agendas, Mr. Gothmann would lead the meeting, and staff would contribute when appropriate. Mr.
Gothmann said he learned when he was a councilmember, is that any time information comes to the
committee,it is better if it comes from staff so as not to appear biased; and added that he has information that
he prepared for today's meeting and will discuss later in the meeting.
It was noted that commission members had a copy of the minutes but likely had not had a chance to review
those.Mr. Gothmann mentioned Mr. Simpson's list of questions given at the last meeting, and noticed they
were not in the minutes, and City Clerk Bainbridge explained that they are not included in the minutes,but
we all have the handout of those draft survey questions for councilmembers; and Mr. Driskell distributed
copies to all of a revised version of those questions, and said we can discuss those under agenda item#4.
Since not everyone was able to attend the first meeting,there were self-introductions.
City Attorney Driskell briefly explained the duties of a mayor, councilmember, and a city manager in a
council/manager form of government as noted in the state statutes, a copy of which he distributed; and he
noted that our council/manager form of government is very different from a strong mayor form of
government; and said that commissioners want to keep in mind our form of government will likely be used
by this commission in terms of comparing our cities to other like cities.Mr. Gothmann stated that the mayor
spends quite a bit more time on city business than the other councilmembers, as members of the public
generally want to talk to the mayor when they have questions or concerns.
Mr. Driskell turned attention to the draft survey questions, and regarding the question about time
commitments, that there are various committee meetings that all councilmembers, including the mayor, are
obligated to attend; and opened the floor for any changes to the list of questions.There was some discussion
about the frequency of some of these committee meetings, and ultimately, it was decided that City Clerk
Bainbridge would send commissioners a copy of the current committee assignments for Councilmembers.
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City Clerk Bainbridge noted that when commission members get the committee list, they will note that
Councilmember Peetz is currently not on a committee;that she is fairly new, and was on one committee but
it dissolved; so she will probably get assigned to a committee or two later. There was also discussion about
the frequency of council meetings,i.e.,once a week generally;and that some councilmembers might immerse
themselves more into their role than others; and that newer councilmembers might also take more time to
familiarize themselves with the materials. There was mention that in looking over the list of committee
assignments and time commitment, that this commission will look at the Mayor separately, and Mr.
Gothmann added that the Mayor also receives a higher pay than the councilmembers. Mr. Driskell clarified
that currently the Mayor's salary is 30% higher than the councilmembers. There was also mention that
different mayors would likely spend different amounts of time at their position, just as different
councilmembers would, as it would depend on their own schedules and availability. City Clerk Bainbridge
mentioned that members of council do not spend countless hours here at City Hall, as they can come in for
council meetings, committee meetings,meetings with staff, and they have the opportunity of grabbing their
council meeting materials and taking them home to read and study.Mr. Gothmann also noted that the job of
mayor and councilmembers is considered part-time, as opposed to Spokane County Commissioners who
work full time.Mr. Simpson said he views these positions not as a job,but as serving the city.
There was also some question about the city hierarchy, and Mr. Driskell explained that it is council's job to
approve policy, and it is the job of the City Manager to carry out those policies; and it was clarified by Mr.
Driskell that the City Manager would not be involved in this commission's process. There was some
discussion about the difference between the legislative actions of council, and the administrative actions of
staff; and that all staff are under the city manager, and it is the Council that has the responsibility of hiring or
terminating the city manager. In response to a comment about the city manager and councilmembers time
together,Mr.Driskell said the City Manager schedules regular time to meet with each councilmember. There
was ultimate agreement with the survey questions and City Clerk Bainbridge said she will make sure these
get to each councilmember, and per this commission, we will ask that councilmembers return those to the
City Clerk in about two weeks. Once the surveys are returned, City Clerk Bainbridge said she will tabulate
the answers for this commission.Mr.Driskell also suggested that at the end of this meeting,to look at possible
times and dates for future meetings,past the December 6 and 13 meetings already scheduled.
Concerning the survey that was undertaken in 2006, there was brief discussion about those cities surveyed
and of the salary ranges. Mr. Whitehead distributed copies of a spreadsheet with data on various cities
including population, form of government (council manager or strong mayor), mayor compensation,
councilmember compensation, hours worked, benefits, and budget. Mr. Whitehead explained that much of
this information is courtesy of the Association of Washington Cities(AWC);that annually they pool a range
of cities and compile salary/compensation data;said the cities are grouped with populations 30,000 to 49,999;
and from 49,999 up. Mr. Whitehead said he added Bellevue because it wasn't part of the survey,but it was
included in the city study done in 2006. He further explained that in looking at the sheet, the information
from the right of`hours' is the information this group asked for, and the information to the left of`hours' is
what was compiled by AWC, without the city of Bellevue. Mr. Whitehead noted that blanks under hours,
benefits,or budget indicate that he has not heard back from those cities yet,which he said wasn't surprising
given the short time frame to gather the data, as well as the Thanksgiving holiday; and entries of"no data"
indicate that the city responded, but they didn't know; and he said that the benefits include the traditional
benefits of health,vision,and dental,among other things.Mr.Whitehead said the first line on the spreadsheet
is Spokane Valley with an estimated population of 95,000;we have a council manager form of government,
our mayor makes $975 a month, councilmembers make $750, we provide full benefits, and our total city
budget is about$81,000,000. In response to a question from City Clerk Bainbridge,Mr.Whitehead said the
AWC information is from data collected in 2017; he noted the term `VEBA' under councilmember
compensation stands for `voluntary employee benefits association,' which is similar to a medical savings
account, but is contributed to on behalf of the councilmembers. Further, Mr. Whitehead said that as more
data is submitted to him,he will be updating the list;and that this commission doesn't have to include all the
cities when making a determination,and can certainly reduce those cities to just those this commission thinks
are the most comparable.Mr.Whitehead said he removed the city of Seattle from this list due to its size,and
that Tacoma did not respond.
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Mr. Gothmann distributed copies of linear regression charts he drafted showing 2008 population and 2006
pay of various cities in a council-manager form of government, strong-mayor form of government, and one
showing both. It was mentioned these handouts are for illustrative purposes only as a method of analyzing
data. Mr. Driskell mentioned we are fairly unique as a city, as we have a lower budget as we are not a full
service city; so the data would be skewed if we used budget rather than population,and again stated that this
data is a factor, but not the only factor one might consider; and that after the data is compiled that this
commission wants to consider, it is going to boil down to looking at the different possibilities for pay, and
said he feels commissioners will know it when they see it. Mr. Simpson mentioned that to him, it is very
important to also take into consideration the benefits, and Ms. Williams said she would like to know what
the value of the benefit package is for our councilmembers. There was discussion about collecting benefit
values from other cities,and the commission members said they did not want to do that;but to just consider
the benefits our councilmembers receive from the city. Mr. Simpson said he would also like to concentrate
on this unique community, and not include data from the west side of the state,with Mr.Robertson agreeing
with the idea of keeping it simple.
The topic of benefits was discussed further, with Mr. Whitehead explaining that the value of the benefits
package depends on what each individual councilmember chooses; so the package would vary depending if
a councilmember received benefits for themselves,for them and their spouse, and for them and their spouse
and children. Mr. Simpson asked then to see what the benefits would be for those three categories. Ms.
Williams said bringing that into the discussion,there would be an individual councilmember who has more
time to devote to their duties as an elected official,versus another individual who might work full time and/or
have a family;to simplify the information,we might want to only look at the cost for a single individual.Mr.
Whitehead said he can supply all the figures this commission would like,but there are three different plans
from which to choose,with five tiers on each plan. Ms. Sturges asked if staff could go back five years and
give an average cost of benefits per councilmember; and Ms. Williams and Mr. Gothmann agreed with that
suggestion.Mr.Whitehead added that for the current council,there were some who did not take benefits,and
therefore, the zeros would skew the data. Several commission members suggesting taking out the zeroes,
and Ms. Sturges remarked that the benefit is still available,even though some may have chosen not to accept
it; and she suggested showing an average of cost for those who did use it; and to go back five years. Mr.
Whitehead explained that even though a councilmember might have chosen not to accept benefits,depending
on the qualifying event, they could at any time of the year, come back on to benefits; and Ms. Williams
suggested deleting those months with a zero, and do an average monthly. Mr. Gothmann disagreed and said
he would prefer to use just the current councilmembers,just for this past year, and divide it by seven; and
Mr. Simpson agreed.Ms.Williams said the idea with going back five years and an average month,is to make
sure this past year isn't an anomaly. There was also discussion about pay and benefits; that one single
councilmember would be actually getting less in benefits than a councilmember with a family who elected
to accept the benefits package. Ms. Sturges suggested getting figures for what the benefit value is this year,
and what it has averaged over the last five years. Mr. Gothmann suggested including what the budget is for
each year as well,and divide that number by seven; so the figure would be the average the city spent for each
of the councilmembers for the last five years.Because of the amount of work,Mr.Driskell suggested having
the figures for the last three years instead of five.Ms.Williams asked about the budgeting and if the council's
benefit budget was calculated each year based on every councilmember getting full family benefits. Mr.
Whitehead said he would need to check with the finance director for those figures.To recap,staff will gather
actual expenses for the last three years for each councilmember, added together and divided by seven; and
we will have the average budgeted amount for benefits for the last three years, and to have three separate
ranges: single,married and married with family for the current cost going back three years.
Mr. Driskell stated that the charge of this salary commission is to look at the salary for council; although he
realizes commissioners will be looking at benefits as well.Mr.Whitehead added that concerning other cities,
many have different plans, some larger or smaller staffs, and some are self-insured, so we won't know the
value of those cities' benefits. Mr. Simpson mentioned that most people look strongly at available benefits.
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The floor was opened to public comments. Ms.Barbara Howard said she thinks councilmembers should also
get gas mileage as an enticement;that she knows they attend various meetings here and downtown; and that
she looks at the vouchers paid each month and knows that the health insurance dropped about $3,000 from
what it was the previous year, as there are less children on the plan now as compared to then. There were no
other public comments. Ms.Bainbridge said that councilmembers do put in for gas mileage reimbursement
as it is related to their duties as an elected official.
Mr. Driskell said regarding the issue of a citizen survey, that we can't do that until we have the time
commitment outlined by our council so that will need to be put on hold for now. Mr. Simpson mentioned
the previous 2006 survey is interesting reading, and Mr. Driskell added that at the time,there was an active
group trying to disincorporation the city, so some were very anti-city.
City Clerk Bainbridge made sure each commissioner had a copy of the special meeting notice for next week
that she handed out at the beginning of the meeting;and the group was reminded that the December 6 meeting
will begin at 4 pm,as will the December 13 meeting;and that she will send out the previous meeting summary
to commissioners; and will get the survey out to the current councilmembers as soon as possible,with a quick
return date. Mr. Whitehead said for the next meeting,he hopes to have a range of benefit costs as well as a
good amount of other data about benefits that might help the group; and will continue to update the
spreadsheet.
There being no further business,the meeting adjourned at 4:17 p.m.
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