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 has reconvened in early 2023 and has set the meeting schedule as follows:
January 31, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm
February 16, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm
March 2, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm
March 16, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm
March 30, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm
April 13, 2023 from 4:00-6:00 pm

All meetings are held in virtual format (online). For more details please refer to the Agenda.

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 appointed in the Fall of 2022 and all have two year terms that will commence on January 1, 2023 and end on December 31, 2024.

Member	Position	Email	Address	Phone
Michael Anderson	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham WA 98229	360-820-6238
Lance Calloway	Business	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-961-5323
Dewey Desler	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	360-303-3046
Karen Funston	Legal Profession	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	360-927-2501
Jeremy Irwin	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-441-1736
Piper Mertle	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	360-738-3855
Lori Province	Organized Labor	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	206-351-2956
Rebecca Sadwick Shaddix	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98229	805-390-5066
Linda Stone	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98229	360-319-5895
Vanessa Bronsema	Personnel Management	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225

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