The Olympia City Council is adding to its ranks. The seven-member group approved the creation of a new assistant for the council at a meeting on Tuesday, June 3.
Human Resources Director Manny Bosser presented the finalized job description for the role at the meeting.
The position will focus on administrative tasks, including email management, meeting coordination, drafting correspondence, and supporting proclamations.
The new assistant will also take on a variety of responsibilities, including light policy research, organizing referrals, tracking project ideas and inquiries, and ensuring compliance with public meeting and disclosure laws.
The new role, which is a full-time position budgeted at approximately $165,000 annually, is included in the city's 2025 budget. The position is designed to help distribute the workload more equitably and address growing demands on council members.
The ideal candidate will have strong administrative experience, knowledge of the City of Olympia, and well-developed customer service, diplomacy, presentation and communication skills. A demonstrated ability to build and maintain collaborative work relationships and a commitment to city values are also essential.
The city plans to post the job listings by Monday, June 9, with a three-week application period. Interviews are anticipated in late July.
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TheVirtualOne
So the city has a huge budget deficit and yet the council decides to spend more taxpayer dollars and hire an assistant? What’s wrong with this picture!
Friday, June 6 Report this
JulesJames
That job description would be summed up as “Secretary.” It would pay a living wage. $165k + Bennie’s seems more in line with a department head. Generosity with our tax dollars!
Friday, June 6 Report this
OlyBlues
This is an astonishing and completely out of touch decision by the council. While the city faces over a million dollar budget deficit from their other reckless spending and huge raises and expansion of their inflated communications staff, they now want an assistant so they can do even less work at a cost to taxpayers of $165K?! What an excessive salary! This decision is reckless, irresponsible, and tone deaf.
Saturday, June 7 Report this
Deanima
Virtual and Jules Typical idiotic, knee jerk, couch surfing comments. 165k includes benefits, dingwad. Run for office. Idiots.
Saturday, June 7 Report this
Deanima
Same to you, Olyblues - keyboard quaterback.
Saturday, June 7 Report this
Olywelcomesall
It would be helpful if the Council helped us understand better how this position fits into their austerity budget . In the last year several city staff positions were cut and people let go to find other jobs. Council members mentioned how tough these cuts were. Last week the City Manager alerted the council on other budget cuts he was making. So, how does the Council feel about adding a new position while many other jobs at the city have been cut? Asking for a friend…
Saturday, June 7 Report this
jimlazar
The Council needs an independent staff, that reports to them. Currently, over 800 City employees report to the City Manager, but only two report to the City Council.
It is impossible for a legislative body to do their job well without an independent research and bill-drafting staff.
This is a small first step. Each Councilmember should have a full-time staff assistant, and there should be a couple of attorneys available to help them draft legislation. Currently, virtually everything that comes before the Council has been drafted by the City Manager's staff.
Frankly, we should probably elect the City Manager, and let them appoint an advisory Council. That way we'd get to vote for who is really in-charge.
Yes, the City pays very well. Much better than the State does for equivalent skills. The "other" newspaper publishes a list of City employees and their compensation. Here are the top 15 for 2023, the most recent data posted. As I understand it, this includes overtime, but does not include retirement or health benefits.
Name Job Title Total Pay
Waters, Jason Battalion Fire Chief $295,943
Leo, Rick Fire Lieutenant| Day Shift $277,913
Sola Del Vigo, Javier Police Officer $242,222
Clark, George Police Officer $239,990
Gantenbein, Matt Fire Chief| Battalion $238,107
Pearce, Kory Police Officer $231,723
Young, James Fire Chief| Battalion - Day Shift $230,262
Burney, Jay City Manager $229,327
Allen, Rich Police Chief $224,254
Frost, David Firefighter $223,834
Churchwell, Troy Paramedic Lieutenant (Fire) $223,447
Hinrichs, Duanne Police Officer $220,318
Wright, Greg Fire Lieutenant $218,487
Jackson, Jon Fire Prevention Officer $218,228
Ficek, Aaron Police Sergeant $213,629
Saturday, June 7 Report this
JnNwmn
So much for the hiring freeze.
Saturday, June 7 Report this
JnNwmn
I guess this is artificial intelligence. "Firefighters in the United States earn an average annual salary of around $59,606. However, salaries can vary significantly based on factors like location, experience, and the specific role within the department. For example, in Olympia, WA, firefighters might earn between $49,921 and $78,620. "
Saturday, June 7 Report this
Redfield
Do you people have to get upset about everything? All you do is read headlines and you don’t pay attention to what is said in meetings. You draw your conclusions from clips and brief articles.
Out of nearly 700 employees, the City Council hasn’t had one employee that serves as their assistant. All staff technically report to the city manager. The mayor even said that council hasn’t had an assistant since before the last recession in 2008. So I would say they’re overdue for some assistance. One person assisting seven elected officials will be a lot of work and they should be compensated appropriately. It’s not like the Council asked for seven assistants, even though that’s probably what they really need or at least part time assistants like them. They will still be under resourced after they hire one assistant.
The Mayor and Council are technically part time workers and get paid as a part time employee. Despite that, they sometimes work nearly full time hours and have no assistant at the moment.
Yes, there is a budget deficit, but it seems to me that the Council went all of these years without an assistant since 2008 and following the recession when the budget was doing fine they continued without an assistant because they were prioritizing other issues. I think it’s ok since Council are the ones driving policy and I’m pretty sure they have no legislative staff that assists them in their policy development work. It all gets handled by the city’s executive branch staff who reports to the city manager. It’s the Council-Manager form of government we voted for way back when. Why don’t you all run for city council if you think you would thrive in these circumstances?
As for the new hiring freeze that was recently announced, the assistant position was already budgeted for this year. The freeze is about preparing for the 2026 budget. But I guess this is too many details for some of you and you would rather just get on here and rage instead. Always have to be angry at something. Pathetic.
Monday, June 9 Report this