Snohomish County NewsSorticulture’s cool stuff
Doug Ramsey Photo
Ben Fulmer, 6, of Lynnwood checks out a glass and water garden sculpture on display at this year’s Sorticulture at Everett’s Legion Park June 12. The annual three-day garden and arts festival, in its 12th year, combines local artists and garden nurseries with live entertainment and food from local eateries. This year’s event featured a wide variety of native Northwest plants as well as some unusual ones along with glass and kinetic art sculptures.
Farmers market opens at new venue
Doug Ramsey Photo
Asmerra Williams, 2, of Mountlake Terrace looks up as her mother reaches out for an ice cream bar from the Whidbey Island Ice Cream Company booth at the opening day of the Mukilteo Farmers Market June 3. With temperatures reaching 82 degrees, ice cream was a big seller as the market opened at its new location at Lighthouse Park. The market is open every Wednesday from 3 to 7 p.m.
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Council cool to pay bump
(A shorter version appeared in the June 17 print edition)
MONROE- A desire by Mayor Donnetta Walser to award additional money to interim city administrator Tim Quenzer and deputy police chief Cherie Harris for their hard work drew consternation among council members earlier this month.
Walser wants to boost Harris’ salary by $940 a month and give Quenzer a $4,000 raise, including a retroactive payment for both at the new salary levels for six months of service. That would equal adding $48,000 to Quenzer’s salary and $11,280 to Harris’.
Consensus among council members was that the two deserve more money, but the timing was not right.
“When we did this (choosing Quenzer in January) I wasn’t sure where we’d get the money, but it’s working so well and been so efficient that I feel they need to be rewarded,” Walser said.
Quenzer and Harris took on additional duties after the termination of former city administrator Jim Southworth last December. Quenzer now wears four hats as interim city administrator, risk manager, human resources manager and police chief, and takes no extra pay over his police chief salary of $123,228. A typical city administrator receives a six-figure salary alone.
Harris makes $112,858 as deputy chief and has handled labor negotiations in lieu of an attorney.
When Quenzer took on the interim city administrator position, he expected it to last three months, not through to Oct. 31, he said.
The fact Quenzer does the work of four people, it may be time to reallocate positions, Councilman Geoffrey Thomas said.
The pay out for Southworth’s contract termination was at a cost of $107,040. The city had budgeted $169,000 for this pay out, and has $62,000 left that Walser sought to be put toward the salaries.
At a time when the city is in a budget bind, this is not the right time, council members said.
Councilman Tony Balk noted that the city did not even have picture frames to put awards into for employees who were awarded for their 20th anniversary due to the budget, let alone this.
“The acting city administrator has done a fantastic job,” Balk said. “That’s not the question. It’s a year where we’ve asked employees to take pay cuts and furloughs. It’s not the time to do this.”
Councilman Mitch Ruth was miffed that the proposal was brought up this month, months after he had recommended that the two receive a pay increase when taking the positions in January. Now that the city is working to keep its savings, he is weighing the issue.
The money could go elsewhere, Ruth said. The city also held off on hiring two temporary parks employees because of budget constraints.
“I can’t explain and justify this to employees, I can’t explain and justify this to citizens,” Ruth said.
As for Quenzer, he told council members he thought he would be taking over the city administrator position for three months and that there would be compensation.
“To be honest with you, I was looking forward to the compensation, but you people are the ones who control this,” he said.
The council may revisit the issue at a future date.