By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – Port Angeles City Councilmembers say it’s time they got a raise, and most of them agree their compensation should at least double. It’s important to note that a city ordinance states that no councilmember may vote themselves an increase in salary for the term being served. So, any raise they approve would be effective only after a councilmember has been re-elected for another term of office.
It’s been 20 years since they got a bump in pay, and the last time the subject was even raised was in 2019, with no action taken. As it stands, the Mayor is paid $650 per month, the Deputy Mayor gets $600 per month, and the rest receive $550. Councilor Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin suggested, instead of doubling their salary, why not pay councilors by the hour?
“And what I would propose is, basically, a scale that allows people to serve on city council at the level that they want. So, what I would suggest is, basically, a per-hour compensation for councilmembers. I would suggest twice the state minimum wage which, currently the state minimum wage is $15.70, so it’d be $31.48. And then we basically submit our timesheet once a month. It would be something that somebody could say, “Well, what are my council members spending their time doing?”, and that would be a way for people to check if they wanted to.”
Most councilors have other jobs, but Schromen-Wawrin said that if someone wanted to be a full-time Councilor, it would equate to about $61,000 per year. He pointed out that no individual would be able to make a living as a career politician in this case because councilors are limited to three terms.
Councilors Charlie McCaughan, Brendan Meyer, Amy Miller, LaTrisha Suggs and Mayor Kate Dexter seemed to think doubling their existing salaries sounded about right. Councilor Navarra Carr liked Schromen-Wawrin’s proposal.
Councilor Miller thought that an hourly wage could open the door to taxpayer’s having trust issues.
“I don’t think I support an hourly wage in that way because, a few things. What I may consider council business may not be what everyone considers council business. Is it when you put your badge on? Then you start counting? Or if you’re at the Safeway and a resident wants to talk to you about the code changes, and how they disagree. Do you then put your badge on and start counting those moments? And I think that just doesn’t seem fun to me. And I also think it leaves a little bit of space for abuse because, you know, I trust myself and I trust you guys, but I also think that without some kind of oversight, it could be abused.”
Councilor Suggs took the idea of better compensation to another level with an idea of her own.
“As councilmembers, some of us do travel out of the area to attend events, like AWC, or MSRC events. Some sit on boards for those. I think that when councilmembers go off to those, and they’re appointed to be on those by the board here, by council members, that that person should also receive a stipend for that travel. You know, for me, I think the one I went last time, I took time without pay, you know, so it does impact people who are working full time.”
Councilor Schromen-Wawrin said that if they went with his pay-per-hour model, the solutions to their concerns and ideas would be built in.
“The issue of a travel stipend, that’s built into the hourly rate. Right? Because, somebody who’s traveling, going to a conference, that’s a lot more hours and there’s compensation for that. So, it’s already built in and already dealt with. Accountability? Several council members were concerned about how do you council members know if, you know, hours should be counted or not. So, that’s there. Now, does somebody count a bunch of stuff that they shouldn’t be counting? That was another concern raised. Again, this can be audited and reviewed, and we could build in an audit process, if needed. We’re not shooting in the dark on our respective times.”
In the end, councilors voted to direct city staff to get back to them with three proposals for a raise in salary; doubling their present pay, moving to an hourly model, or some other suggestion the staff might have.