By Pepper Fisher
SEQUM – The City of Sequim is looking for three residents to be appointed by the Mayor and approved by the Council for the newly established Salary Commission, which will review the salaries of City Councilmembers and discuss the possibility of giving them a raise.
Councilors currently earn a monthly salary, with the Mayor collecting $410, the Deputy Mayor getting $330, and the rest drawing $250 per month. Councilmembers haven’t had a raise since 2014.
Mayor Tom Ferrell told us why they chose to select a commission to review their salaries rather than doing it themselves.
“The Commission, I think, is a way to remove, in essence, the City Council from the uncomfortable position of voting and approving a particular raise. So I think a commission will be purely objective and look at surrounding communities and so on, and make decisions from that point.”
We should mention that councilors voted themselves a raise last year in March that would have taken effect this year, but the outgoing members voted after the November election to rescind the raise.
Prospective commission members must have lived within the City of Sequim limits for a minimum of six months before being appointed. Terms are for two years, and commission members can serve two terms.
Applications are available at the Civic Center or on-line at www.sequimwa.gov.