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2018, 11-20 meeting summary Sepokane OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK Christine Bainbridge,City Clerk Valley 10210 E Sprague Avenue • Spokane Valley WA 99206 Phone: (509)720-5102 •Fax: (509)720-5075 •www.spokanevalley.org cbainbridge@ spokanevalley.org SPOKANE VALLEY INDEPENDENT SALARY COMMISSION Spokane Valley City Hall, Conference Room N117 November 20, 2018 Commission Members Present: Staff Present: Bill Gothmann Staff Liaison: Cary Driskell, City Attorney Michael Moore Chelsie Taylor, Finance Director Chuck Simpson John Whitehead, Human Resources Manager Tes Sturges Carrie Koudelka, Deputy City Clerk Kathe Williams Commission Members Absent: Steve Robertson Meeting Summary: City Attorney Driskell convened the meeting at 11:00 a.m. and the attendees briefly introduced themselves. There were no members of the public in attendance. Mr. Driskell thanked everyone for volunteering and gave background information as to the limitations of setting the salary for Councilmembers as established by Article 30 of the Washington State constitution. He said that according to state law, the City has two ways to set salaries for councilmembers: 1) Council can vote to set their own salaries but the salary would not go into effect until the term following their own; or, 2) Council can establish an independent salary commission to analyze the workload of the Councilmembers and compare their workload and salaries with that of other similar cities. He said following the independent analysis, the commission will submit a final report and make a recommendation to Council. Any adopted changes would then become law and the new salary of Councilmembers within thirty days. Mr. Driskell explained that Spokane Valley is a Council/Manger form of government whereby Council decides policy issues and the City Manager and staff carry out the policies set by Council. He said the Mayor is selected by the Councilmembers to fill the largely ceremonial role of Mayor for a two-year period. He said it is also the role of the Mayor to chair the Council meetings. Final Report from 2006 Mr. Driskell referred the group to the packet materials and asked if there were any questions;there were none.He said the 2006 Final Report provides a good framework to consider for their analysis, adding that they are not obligated to follow it and they can make modifications to it at their discretion. He said by law, the final report from the commission must be issued to Council within ninety days of Council appointing the commissioners. As a brief history, Mr. Driskell said that when Spokane Valley incorporated in 2003, the original salaries were set at $400 a month for Councilmembers and $500 a month for Mayor. In 2004, a change in salaries was adopted; however, a referendum was filed and the salary changes were rejected. In 2006, an independent review and analysis was conducted and salaries were changed at that time. He said no other changes have been made to the salaries since then,but the nature of the jobs for Councilmembers have become more complex and the City budget has increased. He said at a Council meeting a few months ago, a member of the public asked that the Salary Commission be reconvened to assist in attracting quality councilmember interest. Mr. Gothmann asked Mr. Driskell to explain the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) and the Public Records Act (PRA) and how they relate to the Salary Commission. Mr. Driskell said the commission is established by Council and is subject to the requirements of the OPMA. Some of those requirements include notification to the public of the meetings so they can attend and give public comment. He said it also means that more than three members of the commission can't discuss the business of the commission outside of public meetings. He said all records of the commission are subject to the PRA upon request. Mr. Driskell said that another provision in the City code is that once the commission is convened, members are not to discuss anything from the meetings with any Council members. He said that it is important that the public has confidence that what we do is transparent, that we use reasoned analysis and that nothing is done in secret. Election of Chair and Vice Chair Mr. Gothmann nominated himself to chair the commission. Mr. Driskell said the role of Chair and Vice Chair is very limited and he said he is not exactly sure of their function. Mr. Simpson nominated Ms. Sturges to Vice Chair. The nominations were seconded and unanimously passed. Mr. Driskell asked if the group prefers to have the meetings run by the Chair or by the Staff Liaison; Mr. Gothmann suggested that he and Ms. Sturges meet with Mr. Driskell to set the agendas. Mr. Driskell said staff will draft questions for the next meetings based on what the commission wants answered by Councilmembers, such as their time commitment, as well as a survey of the public and analysis of other cities. Ms. Sturges said she is more interested in the details of the analysis of other cities, such as how many hours Councilmembers are putting into their roles. Mr. Whitehead said we may need to get a survey by those city's council members as well. Mr. Gothmann said they might try to pare down the list of cities to those that are most comparable to our form of government. Mr. Driskell said comparisons need to be within Washington State because all states have different laws and requirements so to go out of the state would make it difficult to compare and analyze. Mr. Driskell added that Spokane Valley is different from other jurisdictions because we do not provide fire, library, water, or utility services. Mr. Simpson said he thinks we should exclude all Puget Sound cities and stay in eastern Washington and the Vancouver area.Mr.Driskell said he doesn't know if compensation is skewed by the cost of living, but he recommends including those cities initially and they can be excluded later if that is the desire of the commission. Ms. Sturges said for the next meeting she would like the list updated with current information and pared down to cities more similar to Spokane Valley; Mr. Whitehead said he will provide an updated list and asked the group to give him a list of factors that he can compare. Mr. Driskell suggested population, type of government, and budget. Mr. Gothmann added the number of hours spent by Council members if we can get it.Ms. Williams said she is reluctant to gather information for comparison if it is not potentially good information, adding that the hours of other council members spent in their roles may not be good information to do the analysis. Mr. Driskell said Spokane is not usually a good comparison because of the difference in their form of government. Mr. Gothmann suggested that Mr. Whitehead gather the information and the commission will decide which jurisdictions to include in their analysis at the next meeting. Mr. Simpson asked about the benefits the Councilmembers get outside of wages.Mr. Driskell said the charge of commission is determining salary only, not including benefits. He said Councilmembers are offered health, dental and vision benefits, which he said is unusual for Councilmembers in the state, but that is what was adopted in 2003. Ms. Sturges asked if they can consider the benefits they receive when determining their salary. Mr. Driskell said he can't tell them they can't think about that as they move forward, but he again said the charge of the commission is to determine the salary of the Council. Mr. Gothmann said some Councilmembers may choose to not enroll in the insurance benefits. Finance Director Taylor said they can opt out, but that is not the norm. Ms. Sturges asked if they get retirement benefits and Mr. Whitehead said they are eligible for retirement benefits but they have to be vested before receiving any benefit; he said many choose not to enroll in retirement benefits. Future Meetings The next meetings will be approximately one hour and Mr. Driskell proposed the larger second floor conference room (N212) if possible. Upcoming meetings were scheduled as follows: Thursday,November 29, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. Thursday, December 13, 2018 at 4:00 p.m. Mr. Driskell said the deadline for the commission to submit their report is February 4, 2019. He said next week they will identify those cities for which to compare and the criteria. He asked that the City Clerk include the website survey and data from Laserfiche in the packet materials for the next meeting. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:50 a.in.