POULSBO — The Poulsbo City Council set Wednesday, April 25 as the date to review Mayor Becky Erickson’s salary for a raise to about $95,000. Also on tap for the workshop is examining potential alterations to the structure of Poulsbo’s executive office, following the mayor’s final term.

“I intend to retire after this term,” Erickson said in an email exchange with the North Kitsap Herald. “I will be 67 in 2021. Its all part of the plan… and my desire is to make sure the citizens are well protected and well served when my departure occurs.”

Currently, Erickson receives an annual salary of about $76,000. Comparatively, Bremerton Mayor Greg Wheeler takes home about $107,000 annually and Port Orchard’s mayor, Robert Putaansuu has an annual salary of about $77,200.

Erickson said the salary increase is partially to ensure a broader pool of candidates running for mayor.

“Bluntly, city government must be managed by a knowledgeable, well qualified person,” she said. “Poulsbo has grown substantially in the last 20 years, by population and physical size. Poulsbo employs 95 full time employees, has about $25 million in cash with an asset value in 2016 of $159 million. It is a big, complicated entity that requires professional management.”

A salary increase for Judge Jeffrey Tolman is also another possibility to be discussed at the April 25 workshop. Tolman currently works part-time as a municipal court judge earning a bit over $59,000. A possible raise could see an increase to the judge’s hours and a salary bump to about $75,400, said Finance and Administration Committee Chairman Jeff McGinty.

During the meeting, Council Member Ed Stern agreed that one of the mayor’s chief reasons for requesting a raise — increased job demands — was valid.

“The immediate, pressing issue was a request by the mayor to look at the salary for the additional work that she undoubtedly is doing on behalf of the city, there’s no question about that,” he said. “This has occupied a large portion of our agenda, since January,” Stern said.

Council Member Ken Thomas said the committee felt that it was necessary to bring the issue forth to the city council before moving forward with a recommendation. This is so the council may be briefed on all the factors at play behind a possible recommendation by the Finance and Administration Committee, rather than the committee simply offering a recommendation without any supplemental information.

“We’ve been sort of mulling this over in our committee for a few weeks now and we came to the conclusion that we really don’t want to go any further than tonight to involve the rest of the council,” Thomas said during the April 4 meeting. “We think that by having a council workshop on this issue, it’s the best way to bring all the information we’ve gathered so far and sort of lay everything out there for the council’s consideration.”

As for possible restructuring of the executive office, Erickson said she sees three possible options for the development of a succession plan for the executive branch after her departure:

“1.) pay the mayor more money to recruit a well-qualified candidate. Leave the system as it is but increase the wage to enlarge the candidate pool and give the citizens a true choice from well qualified candidates.

“2.) make the mayor part time (salary reduction) and employ a city administrator, who would report to the mayor. This could be done after I leave office because it is against state law to reduce a mayor’s salary after election. Salary reductions must occur before a coming election and for the next term.

“3.) Hold an election at the end of my term and move toward a city manager and the ‘mayor’ is selected by the council and is a council representative. The city manager would also be selected by and report to the council. A city administrator or manager for a town the size and scale of Poulsbo is paid about $140,000 to $170,000 a year.”

Why is the city beginning discussions so early for a mayoral departure more than three years away? According to Erickson, the pace of government necessitates such an early conversation.

“Such large changes take time within city government,” she said. “The changes need to be well thought-out and clearly understood by the citizens. I was very clear about my intensions of not running for a 4th term during the election. Now is the time to begin the process of what will occur after I leave.”

— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter with Kitsap News Group. Nick can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.