Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners review civil service vacancies; approve small pay step swap for emergency management roles
Summary
The board discussed two Civil Service Commission vacancies for sheriff’s office oversight and later approved a pay‑scale step swap for emergency management director/coordinator positions that increases payroll by about $203.47 per month.
The Board of Cowlitz County Commissioners heard an overview Thursday of the Sheriff’s Office Civil Service Commission and the volunteers who serve on it, and later approved a small pay‑scale adjustment requested by the Sheriff’s Office for emergency management positions.
Dave Handy of the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office described the role and composition of the Civil Service Commission. He said the commission oversees hiring and promotional fairness for sheriff’s employees under Washington law and is governed in the sheriff’s context by RCW 41.14. Handy said the commission has three volunteer commissioners and a part‑time secretary/examiner; current members named in the meeting were Richard Walmsley (chair), Steve McWilliams and Denny Parkhill. Handy told the board that McWilliams and Parkhill plan to step down and that two applicants — Fred Taylor (a sergeant with county service since 1994) and Brett Harris (a retired deputy with service since 1991) — had applied. Handy said the existing commission had endorsed the two applicants.
Commissioners expressed support in principle for appointing local applicants to the civil service panel but made no formal appointment at the workshop. Handy explained the commission’s examiner is the sole paid employee of the panel and that the commission’s budget is separate from the sheriff’s office. He also noted that appeals processes exist for discipline but that collective bargaining agreements provide other avenues and that appeals to the civil service panel happen infrequently.
Separately, Jessica Warren of Human Resources brought a request from the Sheriff’s Office to adjust step placements for emergency management staff: swap the emergency management director and coordinator positions to Step 7 on their new pay scales. Warren said the change would create an overall cost increase of about $203.47 per month. Commissioners indicated no objection and the board authorized the pay‑scale step swap.
Later in the meeting the board went into executive session to discuss performance matters for public employees; after returning the board reported no decision was rendered from that session.
