Olympia Salary Commission Meeting – June 5, 2026

The Olympia City Salary Commission met remotely on June 5, 2026, to begin its annual review of compensation for the city council and mayor. Commissioners discussed past approaches, the role of community input, and potential adjustments to salary and benefits. The group agreed to hold three additional meetings leading to a September recommendation.

Consent Calendar

• Agenda Approval: The agenda was approved with an amendment to add Commissioner Clicker's community considerations document as item 5B. Moved by Paul Horton, seconded by Quent. Unanimous.
• Minutes Approval: The minutes from the February 26, 2026 meeting were approved with a date correction. Moved by Aaron Clicker, seconded by Quent. Unanimous (three members present who attended that meeting).

Public Comments & Testimony

• No public comments were received via Zoom or in writing.

Discussion Items

• Review of Previous Salary Commission Recommendations: Commissioners reviewed past recommendations, noting a consistent approach of using COLA (cost-of-living adjustment) for unrepresented staff and adjusting for changes in medical benefits costs. The 2017 large increase was noted as a make-up year. Comparisons to similar-sized cities were used.
• Community Considerations Document: Commissioner Clicker presented a document outlining what the commission does not know – community priorities, barriers to candidacy (income, family makeup, employment), and whether the current salary structure is inclusive. She suggested the commission could either note the lack of community input or seek to gather it through volunteer efforts, acknowledging resource constraints.
• Discussion on Public Engagement: Paul Horton noted that thorough public engagement would be costly ($80–$150k) and time-consuming, but volunteer efforts could be possible. Quent expressed preference for data-driven approaches (comparative city data) and questioned whether barriers to diverse candidates exist, citing the diversity of recent councils. Karen Messmer argued that Olympia's complexity and the demanding nature of council work may create barriers, especially for single parents, and that the current pay is near the level of a maintenance worker. Aaron Clicker noted that many community members feel disempowered and that economic hardship makes a large salary increase difficult to justify this year.
• Future Direction: Discussion included the possibility of a larger increase in benefits (health insurance) rather than base salary, phased increases over several years, and the need to gather updated data from the Office of Insurance Commissioner (OIC) on benefit cost changes.

Key Outcomes

• Three Additional Meetings Scheduled: The commission will hold three more meetings before September 2026 to develop a recommendation. The first will hash out ideas with research, the second will produce a draft recommendation for public comment, and the third will finalize after public input.
• Data Collection: Staff will obtain OIC data on medical benefit cost increases and update comparative salary data from similar cities. Commissioner Messmer requested a sortable version of the comparative city table.
• Staff Action: Regina Adams will send doodle polls to schedule the future meetings, accommodating members' availability.
• Next Steps: Commissioners will continue discussions based on updated data, with the goal of preparing a recommendation by the end of September 2026.