Cowlitz County commissioners review 2026 personnel and salary requests, approve several department changes

Cowlitz County commissioners spent a Sept. 18 budget workshop reviewing dozens of personnel requests and title/salary reclassification proposals from county departments, approving several items while asking staff for follow-up on others.

The workshop, led by Kathy Funk Baxter, the county finance director, covered requests from district court, the treasurer, the county clerk, the auditor, juvenile probation, the office of public defense, the prosecuting attorney, the sheriff’s office, the coroner and information technology. Department leaders described new duties driven by state mandates, a planned statewide case-management rollout, grant funding changes and recruitment and retention problems tied to pay and working conditions.

Why it matters: The item-by-item personnel decisions will shape the county’s 2026 payroll and service capacity and could require using non‑recurring funds in the short term. Commissioners were explicit that some requests should be addressed during collective‑bargaining cycles or the formal budget process while also weighing operational risks if positions are cut.

District Court: reclassification and training workload Molly (district court administrator) asked the board to reclassify the district court supervisor to a higher salary grade because the supervisor oversees the entire clerk staff, handles courtroom and jury scheduling and administers interpreter scheduling (district court handles 86% of the county’s interpreter needs, Molly said). Molly warned the county will face a steep learning curve when a statewide case‑management system is adopted next year and that the supervisor’s workload will rise sharply; if the reclassification is not approved, Molly said she would likely need to use more overtime.

Treasurer: deputy treasurer to take foreclosure work Cowlitz County Treasurer Deborah Gardner asked to reclassify a deputy treasurer to add foreclosure and some collections duties and to split that position’s cost 50/50 between the general fund and the treasurer’s O&M (operations and maintenance) fund that pays for foreclosure expenses. Gardner said the change would save roughly $42,000 to the general fund through reallocation of IT and other overhead.

Superior Court clerk: broad reclassifications and retention concerns County Clerk Stacy Michael Best requested multiple reclassifications in the clerk’s office, including a retroactive upgrade for chief deputies and higher grades for office manager and deputy clerks. Stacy described front‑counter and courtroom work as routinely exposing clerks to traumatic materials and said turnover and failed probationary employees have been costly. Commissioners expressed concern about the scale of Stacy’s request during a tight budget year and asked Stacy to seek narrower, negotiable changes before final action.

Office of Administrative Services (Finance): manager position inactivated Finance Director Kathy Funk Baxter proposed inactivating the finance manager position and elevating the budget analyst to senior budget analyst. Baxter said the change would reduce personnel costs and cover the requested reclassification internally. Commissioners accepted that proposal as a budget reduction.

Drug court and behavioral‑health positions: case outcomes and funding questions Dallas De La Grange, therapeutic court manager, presented data the program uses to justify retaining positions previously funded by the county behavioral‑health sales tax. Dallas cited published findings he relied on (including Washington State Institute for Public Policy summaries) and local program metrics — completions, community‑service hours and an increase in employment among participants — and argued therapeutic courts often reduce recidivism relative to incarceration.

Commissioners probed the estimates and the question of pay source. Several commissioners said they are reluctant to use one‑time or limited‑term settlement funds for ongoing salaries, but acknowledged immediate needs and state public‑defense caseload mandates. The board directed staff to use opioid‑settlement interest income and other opioid fund proceeds as a short‑term bridge to cover some mental‑health–related public‑defense and prosecuting‑attorney positions for 2026, while asking for a longer plan for sustainable funding. Commissioners did not commit to using opioid funds for drug court positions beyond a bridge period; they asked staff to return with clearer multi‑year forecasts.

Public defense and prosecution requests The office of public defense requested a new full‑time district‑court attorney to meet evolving caseload standards. Director Ian said district‑court attorneys currently average roughly 320–340 assignments and the new statewide standards require a multi‑year reduction of individual caseloads. The board approved the new attorney request for 2026 and directed that funding be covered, in part, using opioid‑settlement interest as bridge funding while the office implements other internal savings (Ian had identified rent and other line‑item reductions).

Prosecuting Attorney Ryan requested continued partial funding of several assistant positions that had been paid from the behavioral‑health tax. The board agreed to use opioid interest income to cover the prosecutor’s mental‑health–related partial positions for 2026 and 2027 while staff pursue long‑term alternatives.

Juvenile probation and clinician role Juvenile court administrator George Moyer asked to retain a clinician position previously funded by the mental‑health tax and proposed inactivating a vacant probation office specialist to make the clinician permanent in the budget with net‑zero general‑fund impact. Commissioners pressed for further workload analysis and asked George to identify one filled probation counselor position that could be eliminated as a test of whether the department can absorb duties; George agreed to return with details. The board signaled willingness to keep the clinician if offset by a corresponding cut in filled personnel and confirmed the clinician meets behavioral‑health funding criteria.

Sheriff’s office behavioral‑health liaisons Chief Spencer described the sheriff’s two behavioral‑health liaison positions (formerly contractor roles) and the triage, follow‑up and cross‑jurisdictional support they provide to Kelso, Woodland, Castle Rock and other local departments. Kelso Police Chief Fletcher said the presence of BH liaisons reduces the risk of force on calls involving mental‑health crises. Commissioners approved keeping the two county sheriff liaison positions and agreed the program’s cross‑agency value merited short‑term continuation of funding; staff will return with precise multi‑year cost forecasts.

Auditor: licensing and recording staff Auditor Carolyn reported heavy turnover in licensing and recording and asked to insert an additional longevity salary step for recording specialists funded from the auditor’s O&M fund (not the general fund). Carolyn said licensing operations are revenue producing and that closing licensing would shift fees and customers to subagents; she asked for board approval to proceed with the requested classification change and to pursue process improvements. Commissioners approved the auditor’s O&M‑funded classification changes but directed county staff to prepare a procedural review of licensing/recording options and costs for a future meeting.

Coroner, IT and other items The coroner requested moving an office specialist into an administrative‑assistant grade because the employee now handles casework, releases and occasional scene follow‑up; commissioners approved the modest increase and noted autopsy and operational cuts the coroner had already made. IT requested an ERP business analyst to overlap with a retiring technical manager on the county’s PeopleSoft system; commissioners asked for further clarification about concurrent consultant contracts and deferred final action until staff could confirm whether a vendor contract or an in‑house analyst is the most cost‑effective path to continuity.

What commissioners directed next Commissioners asked department heads to tighten narrowly defined requests where possible, to avoid mid‑contract changes to union terms except where duties have materially changed, and to return with clearer multi‑year funding plans for positions now proposed to be funded temporarily from opioid settlement interest. Several requests were approved with the condition that HR and county staff negotiate any union changes as required before implementation.

Commissioners said they would finalize personnel decisions as part of the formal budget adoption process but approved a set of short‑term actions to avoid service gaps in 2026. Several departments were asked to identify smaller alternative cuts or offsets and to provide more detailed workload and caseload analyses before final budget adoption.

The board recessed the workshop for a brief break and scheduled follow‑up items and additional detail be provided before adopting final 2026 personnel budget language.