Soap Lake council opposes city manager government - Columbia Basin Herald

SOAP LAKE — Soap Lake councilmembers passed a resolution Wednesday night that details the council’s opposition to a city manager form of government.

Soap Lake Proposition No. 1 relates to the city vacating their current mayor-council form of government and adopting a city manager system. Soap Lake city councilmember Robert Brown and former councilmember Maynard Hagan were able to get the proposition onto the November general election ballot after gathering signatures from at least 10 percent of city residents who voted in the last general election.

During a recent council meeting several councilmembers discussed the proposition at length, voicing their disapproval of the measure. City attorney Katherine Kenison told the council they can collectively decide to oppose or support the proposition. Under the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) and state statute guidelines the city can, under a limited exception, make use of a public facility for the purposes of engaging in what the PDC defines as “political activity,” Kenison told the council.

Kenison drafted two versions of a resolution for the council’s consideration detailing their opposition.

During Wednesday night’s council meeting the council held a public hearing for the public to weigh in on the subject. Only four residents spoke during the meeting, two of whom stated a city manager in Soap Lake would be a great asset, but the city cannot currently afford such a luxury. Two residents voiced support for the proposition during the hearing, one of whom was Hagan.

After the public hearing the council discussed the proposition for about an hour. A big point of contention between Brown and the rest of the council was how the city could go about paying for the added expense of a city manager.

Brown noted the resolution stating the council’s opposition explains that a low-end pay scale for a city manager in Washington is $87,912 annually. He stated the city’s solid waste fund currently has $93,000 in excess revenue from 2015 through to 2016, and is projected to have a surplus revenue of $150,000 in 2017.

“This is money that is not dedicated or is being used for anything. Combine the $93,000 with the mayor’s annual salary of $7,200 that makes a total of over $100,000 in excess of the low-end pay scale the city has reported of $87,000. So we have money that is available today,” Brown stated.

Councilmember Judith Tramayne noted the solid waste fund is an enterprise fund and the money that is in it is restricted to purposes related to solid waste and wouldn’t be applicable to the salary of a city manager. Brown suggested the city could use the $93,000 in the solid waste fund by reducing the city’s garbage rate by $93,000 and then raising the utility tax by $93,000. “It would be a wash to the general public,” he said.

Councilmember John Glassco took exception to Brown suggesting the council was overcharging citizens by $93,000.

“I would like to object to Mr. Brown’s characterization of the council as we are overcharging the citizens. That’s an outrageous statement. We don’t charge the citizens. We manage the money of the city. We have hired a firm to do a rate study so that we can make adjustments within our utilities and within the expenses that we have to meet within the general fund,” Glassco remarked. “Why we would change our form of government before our rate study doesn’t make any sense.”

Councilmember Kat Sanderson stated one of the biggest reasons she is opposed to the proposition is the fact that the city is required by law to keep the city-manager form of government, if approved by voters, for six years.

“That’s a long time to pay somebody that kind of money when we don’t have it now,” Sanderson said. “I would prefer to use excess dollars that we have on our police officers who are underpaid in the first place. We have a hard time hanging onto them because we can’t afford to pay them well.”

Tramayne, Glassco, Sanderson and councilmembers Steve Wellein and Kandis Lair voted to oppose proposition no. 1. Brown was the only councilmember to vote against opposing the proposition.

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Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com

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