College Place City Council to tackle Lions Park cost overruns, establish salary commission

COLLEGE PLACE – The College Place City Council is set to meet tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m., with an agenda that includes addressing significant cost increases for the Lions Park improvement project and establishing a process for future compensation changes for city council members.

The primary action item involves the Lions Park improvement project, where the council will consider a motion to increase the project’s contingency amount by $180,000. If approved, this adjustment would raise the total construction amount to a sum not to exceed $6.5 million.

The necessity for the increase stems from several unforeseen costs encountered during the project, including Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) revisions, energy code modifications, the relocation of a water line, and the need for additional pond excavation.

In a separate move, the council will review an ordinance establishing a City Council Salary Commission. This commission would be created to oversee and determine future salaries for both council members and the mayor.

The last compensation update for council members was in July 2007, when their monthly stipend was raised from $250 to $375. Prior to that, the stipend was last adjusted in January 2004. The mayor’s salary has not been raised since 2017.

The proposed process for amending salaries involves four steps:

1. Adopting an ordinance to ratify the salary commission.
2. Recruiting commission members.
3. Exploring research methods (noting that most cities do not hire independent contractors for this task).
4. The commission deciding on salaries and sending recommendations to the Council.

The meeting will be held in council chambers at College Place City Hall and can be viewed on the city’s YouTube channel.

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Elkhorn Media Group