Council confirms municipal judge, approves wage ordinances and awards utility mailing contract

The council approved several administrative items on the agenda, including a judicial appointment, salary-plan ordinances and a vendor contract.

Appointment: Council heard a staff recommendation and moved to adopt Ordinance 4810 to confirm the city manager’s appointment of Carlos de Villareal as municipal court judge for a four-year term; the motion passed unanimously.

Salaries: Council considered two related ordinances on annual adjustments. Ordinance 4808 concerns wages for administrative professional non-management personnel and was described as an annual COLA and compression fix; Mayor Pro Tem Grimm moved adoption and it passed unanimously. Ordinance 4809 concerns management salaries and adjustments to address compression and Washington State salary transparency compliance; council approved the management ordinance on a 5–1 vote after discussion about relative paybands.

Utility billing vendor: Staff presented a resolution to contract with Infosend Incorporated for utility-bill printing and mailing, citing integration with recent billing software conversion and expected biennial savings of approximately $66,000 (~$30,000/year). Council authorized the city manager to execute the professional services agreement by unanimous vote (Resolution 4689).

Next steps: the city manager is authorized to sign the judge’s services agreement and the Infosend contract; HR and finance staff will implement wage changes and report as required.