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Council amends city position ordinance; corrects FTE tally and moves to preserve hiring flexibility
Summary
Edmonds council approved an ordinance updating authorized city positions, including a staff correction to a fractional FTE figure, a reduction in one assistant police chief post and related FTE adjustments; council debated retaining an economic development director position but ultimately approved the ordinance with a staff-requested numeric fix.
The Edmonds City Council on Aug. 12 adopted an ordinance updating the city’s authorized employee positions, including multiple technical changes across departments and a staff-requested correction to a fractional FTE figure.
Senior HR Analyst Emily Wagner told the council the update reflects multiple collaborative staffing discussions and aligns the position ordinance with current funded positions. She identified several specific adjustments: the Police Department’s assistant chief positions were reduced from two to one, a sergeant position increased from six to seven, and one officer position was reduced — reflecting council direction since the 2023 budget cycle and current staffing choices.
Councilmember Nann moved an amendment to correct a transcription/typographical error in Attachment B: changing an irregular-employee total from 2.57 FTEs to 2.37 FTEs. Council voted to approve that amendment, then adopted the ordinance as amended. The ordinance passed unanimously.
Council discussion and next steps: Several council members indicated they want a return to discuss the community services and economic development director position after the November election, and some members urged that the position be retained as “unfunded” rather than struck completely to allow easier reinstatement should finances improve. Staff said the ordinance formalizes the current funded positions and that council could later amend the ordinance to add or fund positions.
Vote: Motion to adopt the ordinance as amended carried unanimously.
What it means: The ordinance aligns the position table to show what positions the city is currently funding and fills a record-keeping need; in some cases it formalized prior council direction to remove or unfund positions. Council and staff also agreed to pursue an improved process for future position updates so the city need not use an ordinance for every staffing change.
