Granite Falls City Council decision upsets new mayor

Published 10:35 pm Friday, January 1, 2010

GRANITE FALLS — While the relationship between the city’s new mayor and its police chief has improved, relations between Mayor Haroon Saleem and the City Council are getting off to a rough start.

The City Council this week voted 5-0 to extend the contract of Police Chief Tony Domish for five years, over the objections of Saleem whose term didn’t start until Friday. He succeeds former mayor Lyle Romack.

Saleem told the council on Wednesday that although he and Domish have worked through many of their differences, he should have had input on the contract because he will be the chief’s boss.

He said the council did not consult him on the move and the decision should have been delayed 90 days until he had a chance to make a recommendation to the council.

“Everything is going to be my responsibility, and if it is my responsibility, then I should have my constitutional right and the separation of power to be able to make that determination,” he said.

The council’s unanimous decision to extend the chief’s contract resulted in part from concerns that the chief under the old contract terms was a member of the police union. The extension takes him out of the union and makes him a member of the city’s management team.

They began discussing the extension in November because contract negotiations are coming up with the city’s police union. The department has six full-time police officers and 16 others, including volunteer reserves and auxiliary staff.

“I needed that man across the table with me, not against me,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Adams said about Domish’s position at Wednesday’s meeting. “I wanted him on my side, not the other side. Having him in the union was extremely difficult.”

Regarding consulting Saleem, “he wasn’t the mayor, and he’s not until Jan. 1,” she said Thursday.

Domish’s previous three-year contract would have expired in June. The extension will pay him his current salary, $66,000, in 2010, with 5 percent raises each year from 2011 through 2014. The new contract also provides other benefits, including greater detail about his job description. It also increases his severance pay for up to 12 months’ worth of salary if he is terminated without cause.

Domish said he’s pleased with the extension and that he and Saleem have “agreed to disagree” on that issue.

Still, “I wish circumstances were different because I understand the incoming mayor’s position,” he said.

Domish and Saleem each said they spent more than 30 hours face-to-face over the previous week hashing out their differences. The two had sparred previously over Saleem’s business, the Timberline Cafe, which Domish said was a major source of fights and suspected drunken driving. Saleem said the characterization was untrue.

“There were some issues, some bad blood if you will, both sides were at fault, and I think we’ve gotten past those,” Domish said.

Saleem has appointed a manager at the cafe to handle police and liquor enforcement issues, which Domish said is a positive move. He said police calls generated by the cafe’s cocktail lounge recently have decreased.

Several people spoke at Wednesday’s meeting, some in support of Domish and extending his contract, others advocating a wait-and-see approach.

Bob Littlejohn, who said he has worked in law enforcement for 35 years and has done hiring and training, said, “Chief Domish has brought this police department from Mayberry to a viable working police agency.”

Former Mayor Rella Morris said the council was getting ahead of the game on extending the contract.

“Why are you jumping on renewing a contract that’s not even up until June 2010? Red flags go up,” she said.

“Normally you start looking at it about six weeks, maybe two months before it’s due.”

Saleem told the council at the meeting, “Please I urge you, do not shove this down my throat because I will not accept it.”

He later admitted his emotions got the better of him.

“It is what it is,” he said. “It’s a battle I lost and I will pick myself up and go forward. I am keeping my eye on the ball.”

Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.