Salary Commission

Purpose

The purpose of the Salary Commission is to fix the salaries of the County Council, Executive, Assessor, Auditor, Prosecuting Attorney, Sheriff, and Treasurer in accordance with the county code, county charter and state law. The Commission shall study the relationship of salaries to the duties of the elected officials and fix the salary for each position. Except as provided in this chapter, the Commission shall be solely responsible for its own organization, and shall enjoy the fullest cooperation of all elected officials, departments, and agencies of the county.

Meetings

Once biennially (every other year) this Commission sets a series of meetings early in the year. Their goal is to submit a schedule of salaries to the County Council by May 1st.

The Commission scheduled a series of meetings in early 2017, and they completed their work in April on a new schedule of salaries. This was presented to County Council and approved on May 30th, 2017. View the Resolution and new proposed salary schedule for 2018-2019 here.

The next scheduled meeting of the Commission will take place on Thursday, January 17, 2019, from 4:00 - 6:00 pm at the Whatcom Transportation Authority's administrative office building, 4011 Bakerview Spur, Bellingham - a series of subsequent meetings will be set at that time.

Agendas & Minutes

Agendas are available prior to meetings. Minutes are available following approval.

View Most Recent Agendas and Minutes

Members

The Salary Commission has 10 members. The following list of members were recently appointed and all have two year terms that will commence on January 1, 2019.

Member	Position	Email	Address	Phone
Bonne Broadway	Citizen At Large	Email	8153 Quinault Road, Blaine, WA 98230	360-305-4246
Justin Iverson	Organized Labor	Email	4821 E. Oregon St., Bellingham, WA 98225	360-739-7658
Lisa Karlberg	Business	Email	432 W. Bakerview Road, #101, Bellingham, WA 98226	360-483-4572
George King	Citizen At Large	Email	P.O. Box 609, Maple Falls, WA 98266	360-599-2883
Randy T. Morris	Citizen At Large	Email	3455 Alm Road, Everson, WA 98247	801-425-6301
Karen Peila	Citizen At Large	Email	2915 Haggin Street, Bellingham, WA 98225	360-752-2408
Jon Sitkin	Legal Profession	Email	2635 Shepardson Street, Bellingham, WA 98226	360-671-1796
Wayne Tomlinson	Citizen At Large	Email	7352 Seashell Way, Blaine, WA 98230	360-223-0435
Martin Watterson	Citizen At Large	Email	1406 W. Illinois Street, Bellingham, WA 98225	360-220-1035
Wendy Wefer-Clinton	Personnel Management	Email	823 E. Lake Samish Drive, Bellingham, WA 98229	360-961-3812

Specifications

Of the 10 members, 6 were selected by lot by the County Auditor from among those registered voters eligible to vote at the time persons were selected for appointment to full terms on the commission.

Of the 10 Commission members, 4 are selected and appointed by the County Executive. All 4 of these appointees have experience in personnel management, and 1 member was selected from each of the following fields of expertise:

Business
Legal profession
Organized labor
Professional personnel management,

Term Limit

2 consecutive full terms

Term Length

2 years

Authority

Date of Formation

February 28, 2012