Pay hike deserved, Monroe chief says

Published 9:43 pm Sunday, June 28, 2009

MONROE — The Monroe City Council has a tough decision to make Tuesday.

City leaders tapped Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer to run City Hall after firing the city administrator in December.

Now after six months of working two jobs for one paycheck, Quenzer wants a raise.

“Most everyone in my profession feels I’m a fool for doing this for nothing,” Quenzer said. “I feel a commitment to the city.”

The City Council is considering giving Quenzer a $4,000-a-month pay bump and back pay. That would be on top of the $123,228 he already receives.

If he worked 12 months at the new salary Quenzer would earn about $171,000.

Quenzer said he just wants to pay his bills.

He gave up a consulting job with the Department of Homeland Security. The contract work made up about a third of his total income and was done on his time off, Quenzer said.

Now he doesn’t have any.

“I know the city is sacrificing, and the city employees are sacrificing and doing a great job,” he said. “I don’t think they are sacrificing 30 percent of their income.”

In tough economic times, boosting Quenzer’s pay isn’t sitting well among other city employees.

The city, which has about 16,500 residents, is struggling to keep enough cash on hand to pay its bills. It’s already asked all city employees, including Quenzer, to take two unpaid days. It’s laid off employees and left other positions unfilled, including positions in the police department.

At meetings earlier this month, the council praised Quenzer for his smooth handling of city businesses, but agonized over how the city could afford to give out a big pay raise.

There may be other options.

In Federal Way, city leaders faced a similar situation when their city manager left this spring.

The Federal Way City Council asked the police chief to serve as interim city manager, too. But in Federal Way, city leaders had the deputy police chief take over management of the police department.

Both men received a modest pay raise, said Jack Dovey, Federal Way’s mayor.

Federal Way’s budget is tight, too. It has laid off workers and asked all city employees to take a 2 percent pay cut.

Shifting duties to free up the police chief saved Federal Way money and seems to be working, Dovey said. City leaders there never considered having one person do both jobs, he said.

“Both of them are pretty much full time jobs in our city,” Dovey said. “You would run somebody ragged, and they wouldn’t be able to perform the way they should.”

However, Dovey said difficult times sometimes call for creative measures.

Greg Prothman is the president of an executive search firm that finds city administrator candidates for local cities.

He said the salary hike Quenzer has sought is reasonable, especially considering how much Monroe would have to pay to permanently fill the position.

“It seems like it’s in the ball park,” he said.

Cities of Monroe’s size can expect to pay up to $140,000 annually for a city administrator. In addition, the city likely would have to spend another $30,000 for a candidate search.

The council plans to discuss Quenzer’s pay and other budget issues at a Tuesday evening meeting.

Quenzer said whatever the City Council decides, he’s committed to serving Monroe.

“If they don’t pay me a dime, I’m not walking a way from this,” he said. “I feel a responsibility to the citizens of the city to see this through.”

Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.