Everett officials won’t get back pay

Published 11:17 pm Sunday, February 24, 2008

EVERETT — Everett City Council members and the mayor will not take home $17,138 in back pay.

Recently appointed state Appellate Court Judge J. Robert Leach, who will be sworn in later this month, concluded back pay is not owed to the city’s elected officials.

Leach was hired by the City Council for $250 an hour earlier this month to settle a controversial dispute over pay.

City Councilman Mark Olson, with the support of three other council members, argued that pay raises for city elected officials should have taken effect more than six months ago. Instead, the raises went into effect Jan. 1.

Olson, an attorney, forced a resolution to grant back pay to the council after complaining that Everett City Attorney Ned Johnston was moving too slowly to answer his questions about the council’s pay.

The vote fractured the council and prompted Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson to call the action inappropriate. He said he would not accept the $6,000 in back pay that Olson’s measure would have entitled him to.

“I think it’s regrettable we had to spend some money to get the question answered,” said Council President Drew Nielsen, who is also an attorney. He opposed Olson’s back-pay vote. “But it was the only way out of the situation we were in.”

Olson said Leach’s four-page analysis, which focused mostly on state salary commission procedure, was “candid and thorough.”

“It’s a clear decision and we will abide by it,” he said.

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.