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.

For 2019, the Commission conducted several meetings from January through April and after concluding their business the result was the Schedule of Salaries for Elected Officials for 2020 and 2021.

The Commission has begun meeting again this year, and their first meeting was on Monday, January 18, 2021. All meetings are now conducted online through a virtual meeting platform. A meeting schedule has been set as follows, with all meetings starting at 4:00 pm:

January 18, 2021 - Meeting Recording Link
February 15, 2021 - Meeting Recording Link (Passcode: H0CI@iHx)
March 1, 2021 - Meeting Recording Link (Passcode: 9rh*Hk25)
March 15, 2021 - Meeting Recording Link (Passcode: ==kj1gJX)
April 5, 2021
April 19, 2021 (optional extra meeting)

All meetings are open to the public and citizen comments will be accepted. Click on the Agenda link below for details regarding meetings and links to participate.

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 2020 and all have two year terms that will commence on January 1, 2021 and end on December 31, 2022.

Member	Position	Email	Address	Phone
Jill Bernstein	Legal Profession	Email	Sedro Woolley, WA 98284	360-961-2677
Lance Calloway	Business	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-961-5323
Dewey Desler	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	360-303-3046
James Farmer	Citizen At Large	Email	Blaine, WA 98230	360-441-9526
Tracie Gulit	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-201-6433
Karen Peila	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-201-6889
Philip Howell	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98229	360-739-9561
Lori Province	Organized Labor	Email	Bellingham, WA 98225	206-351-2956
Bernice Vonnegut	Personnel Management	Email	Lynden, WA 98264	360-815-5890
Matthew Williams	Citizen At Large	Email	Bellingham, WA 98226	360-920-4078

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