Ferndale City Council REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Department Prepared By: CITY CLERK S OFFICE

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1 Ferndale City Council REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Department Prepared By: CITY CLERK S OFFICE TITLE: AGENDA BILL # Ordinance Resolution Motion Info Only Discussion Date Council Action Requested: October 16, 2017 Prepared by: Susan Duncan, City Clerk Reviewed By: Date: 10/11/2017 SUBJECT: Committee: P&LU PW&U F&A Mayor Elected Officials Salary Ordinance City Administrator City Clerk s Office Community Development Dept Public Works Department City Attorney s Office Finance Director Police Department Board/Commission Hearings Examiner ACTION REQUESTED: VOTE NEEDED TO PASS: SUMMARY: Please see staff report. DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS/ISSUES: full Council. Finance & Administration Committee members forwarded this item to the RECOMMENDATIONS: Approval of AB # ATTACHMENTS: Staff Report Ordinance H 94

2 Greg Young, City Administrator City of Ferndale History of Council and Mayor Salaries The setting of the salaries of the Mayor and Council can sometime be confusing. The biggest challenge is that, per State law, the Council cannot alter their own salaries during their term of office. With Council positions being on staggered terms, this could mean that some Councilmembers are paid more or less than others. Another wrinkle is that this limitation (during your term increases) does not apply to the Mayor their salary can be raised during their term. An attempt was made by previous Councils to avoid this two-tier Council pay arrangement by adopting an ordinance that had the effect of automatically adjusting Council salaries by inflation. It was believed that this CPI-based methodology would adequately adjust Council salary on an annual basis while avoiding the pay differential situation. Unfortunately, we have learned that this automatic pay adjustment runs afoul of state law. We have been told that any increase in Council salary must be for a defined dollar amount leaving it up to CPI (inflation) will not work. To aid in your understanding of the historical Ferndale Council pay scenarios and to hopefully provide some insight on possible solutions going forward, I ve summarized below the various Ordinances we have adopted since 2006 regarding Council and Mayor pay. To provide additional historical perspective, some may remember that the City changed its form of government years ago. This occurred in 1998/1999 (the vote was in 1998 and it became effective in 1999). The change altered the formal type of governing rules we use. The two forms of governance are commonly referred to as strong mayor and weak mayor. While not particularly flattering terms, here is the difference. Weak Mayor This is the form of government we had prior to Under this arrangement, the Mayor is not directly elected by the people but rather, the Councilmembers select who amongst them will be Mayor. The chosen Mayor is a ceremonial position that is, they have no greater administrative power than the other Councilmembers. They simply run the meetings and cut ribbons opening new businesses. Under this form of government, the Council hires a City Manager who is the Chief Executive Officer of the City. The City Manager is the boss they are hired and fired by the majority of the Council. It was this form of government that the voters chose to abandon in This vote required that a new City Council (and Mayor) be elected. 95

3 Strong Mayor Under this form of government, the Mayor is the Chief Executive Officer and ultimately calls the shots administratively. As you are aware, this form of Mayor is directly elected by the voters. The City Administrator is hired and fired solely by the Mayor. In practice, both forms of governance are common (Blaine has a City Manager while we and Lynden have City Administrators). It is common under the weak mayor for the mayor to not be in city hall much (usually no more than other councilmembers) but strong mayors usually have an office at city hall and keep regular office hours. Given this difference in the election method and administrative powers of the two different types of Mayors, it is somewhat common for weak mayors to be paid very similar to the Council but strong mayors (especially in larger cities) receive a salary that is usually higher than the Council. And, as usually is the case, size matters that is, the Mayor and Council for very large cities (think Everett or Seattle) receive salaries that would be considered full-time full-pay compensation. Detailed below are the various ordinances we have adopted since the change in government. I hope this information and historical perspective helps. Ordinance #1370 Adopted July 2005 (prior to this, pay was last changed in 1999) Council positions #5, #6, and #7 received $200 per month, plus $50 per meeting attended, not to exceed $500 per month effective 1/1/2006 Council positions #1, #2, #3, and #4 received $200 per month, plus $50 per meeting attended, not to exceed $500 per month effective 1/1/2008 Mayor pay $1,500 per month, effective 1/1/2006 Ordinance #1454 Adopted February 2008 Councilmembers salary set at $ per month, plus $52.92 per meeting attended, not to exceed $ per month effective 1/1/2008 Mayor s salary set at $2,500 per month Council and Mayor salary automatically adjusted annually on January 1 st by 80% of the CPI Note: As noted previously, Councils can increase the Mayor s pay during his/her term in this instance, the Mayor s pay was increased in February of 2008 Ordinance #1814 Adopted December 2013 Mayor s salary set at $2,619 per month Both salaries adjusted on January 1 st of each year by 80% of the CPI 96

4 Ordinance #1825 Adopted February 2014 Mayor s salary set at 90% of the high average, same sized* cities per AWC Salary Survey Council salary automatically adjusted annually on January 1 st by 80% of the CPI *Note: same sized cities relate to population only some of the cities within our population band have strong mayors and other have weak mayors. As stated previously, it is not uncommon for strong mayors to be paid more than weak mayors. Ordinance #1970 Adopted November 2016 Mayor s salary set at $1,644 per month plus the 80% of inflation factor (2017 amount is $1,679/mo.) Both effective 1/1/2017 Note: The use of the inflation factor is something we have been told is not allowable. 97

5 ORDINANCE NO. AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FERNDALE SETTING THE MAYOR S AND COUNCILMEMBERS SALARIES, PROVIDING FOR ANNUAL ADJUSTMENTS, AND REPEALING ORDINANCE 1970 WHEREAS, Council and Mayor salaries were last set by Ordinance #1970; and WHEREAS, the City Council desires to provide fair and equitable compensation to the position of Mayor and Councilmembers; and WHEREAS, Article I, Section 8, Amendment 57 of the Washington State Constitution states that the salary of an elected official cannot be reduced during his/her term of office; WHEREAS, it is the opinion of the State Auditor and Attorney General that salary increases for elected officials based on an index such as the CPI violate the State Constitution; NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Ferndale do ordain as follows: Section 1. Ordinance 1970 is hereby repealed. Section 2. The salary of councilmembers is currently set at $600 per month. Councilmembers salary shall be adjusted annually as follows: January 1, 2018 December 31, 2018: $600 per month January 1, 2019 December 31, 2019: $600 per month January 1, 2020 December 31, 2020: $654 per month January 1, 2021 December 31, 2021: $674 per month January 1, 2022 December 31, 2022: $694 per month January 1, 2023 December 31, 2023: $715 per month Section 3. The salary of the mayor is set at $1,679 per month. Section 5. Council member compensation shall be issued during the first City pay period of each month. Mayoral compensation shall be issued during the first and second City pay periods of each month. PASSED AND APPROVED by the Ferndale City Council this 16 th day of October, ATTEST: Jon Mutchler, Mayor Susan Duncan, CMC, City Clerk 98