The Port of Centralia Commission is nearing completion of its job posting for its next executive director following a workshop Wednesday, Feb. 11.
Commissioners Peter Lahmann and Ally Pickard, along with interim Executive Director Amy Graber and staffer Erin Maloney, sewed up some of the final details for the draft job posting, including salary range, qualifications and authorities within the role.
Each commissioner proposed writing a low salary and a high salary for the executive director, utilizing information from the Washington Public Ports Association (WPPA), other job postings from other port districts and salaries of city officials.
Pickard proposed a range of $90,000 to $200,000, Lahmann proposed a range of $120,000 to $170,000, and Kyle Markstrom, who was absent from the special meeting, proposed $170,000 to $250,000. Port staff, using the average of the ranges given by the commissioners, narrowed the range down to $127,000 to $208,000.
Ultimately, the two commissioners seemingly agreed upon posting a salary range of $127,000 to $190,000, but the full commission will likely vote to finalize the salary range, as well as the other final details of the job posting, during its Wednesday, Feb. 18 regular meeting. After it is finalized, the job would be sent for advertising in early March, and the port will accept applications for about a month before the review process begins.
Lahmann said he worked closely with Eric ffitch, the director of the WPPA, to find an appropriate salary range for the new executive director. The director told Lahmann that the Port of Centralia ranks 32nd in the state in regards to size, and ffitch provided the salary ranges of port executive directors for all of the districts ranked above Centralia and those just below.
Pickard stated that she would prefer the addition of a caveat that says the port reserves the right to reopen the job if the port doesn’t find what it is looking for. She also made a handful of notes regarding the proposed job duties and responsibilities, including taking issue with a bullet point that gives the executive director the ability to determine what issues are appropriate to bring before the port commission.
“I’m not really comfortable with that statement of determining what issues are appropriate,” Pickard said. “The commission has a history in the past of not being informed enough on issues, and then, by extension, the public is not informed of issues. Previously, in my own submission, I had said, ‘to keep the port commission fully informed of significant operational, financial, legal, risk, safety, and security matters,’ rather than just the executive director determining what issues are appropriate for the port commission to be aware of. As a port commissioner, when I’m out in public, I don’t want to be surprised by something that’s going on or legal action that’s being taken.”
Pickard also advocated for the port executive director to be the “front face of our agency” and asked that their responsibilities include attending City of Centralia council meetings. Lahmann further recommended that the new executive director attend Lewis County Board of Commissioners meetings and have excellent communication skills with constituents, along with the listed recommendations of “working with elected officials and governing bodies.”
“I’ve seen in our past documentation that we’ve left the citizens out,” he said. “We need to make sure that everybody gets a chance to have a voice.”
In some of her proposed additions, Pickard emphasized transparency from the next executive director in handling constituent concerns and sensitive personnel matters. Further, she delved into the director’s introductory period and noted that she did not want the next executive director to be able to make “sweeping changes” during their first six months, which port staff said would be classified as a probationary period. Pickard said these guardrails would include no severance and the inability to fire port staff.
In the qualifications and competencies section of the draft job posting, Pickard proposed that the new executive director should live within the port district but that it is not required at the time of hire. She said the port can offer flexibility in that it can give the new hire a “reasonable period” in which to relocate.
Pickard also stated her belief that experience in the private sector alone is not sufficient and that she would like to see candidates with experience in public service and management of public funds, or working with government entities.
In terms of compensation benefits, Pickard said she doesn’t want to see a package similar to the one previous Executive Director Kyle Heaton received and wants it to mirror that of port employees.
“When I looked at our employee policy versus what the executive director’s contract was, it was vastly different in their compensation benefit package,” she said. “This staff works just as hard as any other member, and I don’t want that huge disparity in what the compensation looks like.”
Lastly, Pickard suggested a required credit history check of candidates, as they would be handling port finances. Lahmann agreed with the proposal.
