Snohomish’s ousted city administrator hired by Oak Harbor

The Oak Harbor City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to confirm the appointment of former Snohomish city administrator Steven Schuller to the position of public works director.

Council members approved Schuller’s contract at a base salary of $13,602 per month, or $163,224 annually. He replaces Mick Monken, who has been serving as interim public works director since September 2021.

“(I’m) very excited to join the team there at Oak Harbor,” Schuller said during the meeting. “I’m looking forward to showing up on Monday, as you wish.”

Schuller is slated to begin his new position on Monday, March 21. He was selected from among 24 candidates and recommended to the council March 15.

“I’m extremely happy that we were able to attract someone of this caliber,” wrote Councilmember Shane Hoffmire in an email. “It’s a testament to the administration and the new city council.”

Hoffmire added that he anticipates this new leadership could be a “game changer” that saves Oak Harbor residents “an untold amount of money.”

Schuller comes to Oak Harbor from the city of Snohomish, where in addition to serving as city administrator, he was also the utility general manager and public works director.

Schuller was ousted unexpectedly from his position with the city by Snohomish Mayor Linda Redmon, who wrote in a statement that she was “revamping our internal functioning in order to better serve our community.”

Some of Schuller’s reported accomplishments in Snohomish include the establishment of a transportation benefit district to dedicate funds to street infrastructure, restoration of a historic building in the city, reduction of water costs and partnership with the Tulalip Tribe to decommission a dam at the Pilchuck River, and implementing an inexpensive and effective filtration system that drastically reduced incidents of overflow into the Snohomish River.

This story originally appeared in the Whidbey News-Times, a sister publication to The Herald.