Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
North Bend council approves December payroll vouchers after contested motion over revoked job title
Summary
Council member Susan Torgerson proposed and the council approved a motion to ratify 2025 payroll checks while directing staff to segregate any payments tied to a job title she said had been revoked from the municipal code. The council directed staff to report amounts and asked the city attorney to prepare a corrective ordinance.
The North Bend City Council on Jan. 6 approved the city’s December 2025 payroll vouchers after a contentious motion that sought to withhold and recategorize any payments tied to an administrative job title the mover said was no longer in the municipal code.
Council member Susan Torgerson moved to approve the payroll vouchers listed on the Jan. 6 agenda but asked the council to exclude and recategorize any payments issued to the Administrative Services Director title, which she said had been revoked in North Bend Municipal Code (title 2.07) in 2013. "Any payments made under the revoked job title will be set aside and clearly labeled until the legal issue is resolved," Torgerson said, and she asked the finance director to provide a certified report of funds paid to that title and the city attorney to draft ordinance language reconciling staffing with the code.
Christina Rustic seconded the motion "for the purpose of conversation." The mayor read voucher ranges and totals for the December pay periods on the agenda, and the council recorded votes; the mayor later noted Torgerson voted "nay" but the motion carried and the payroll vouchers were approved.
The motion included three explicit directives: (1) ratify payroll payments for 2025 pay scales only; (2) immediately recategorize any payments tied to the revoked Administrative Services Director title as uncertified expenditures and place them in suspense; and (3) require staff to report amounts and present a corrective ordinance and lawful plan to reconcile the municipal code and staffing at an upcoming council meeting.
Council members did not adopt a final legal determination in the meeting; rather, the council approved payroll disbursements while directing the finance director and city attorney to produce documentation and ordinance language for council review. Mayor Mary Miller and the council gave no timetable beyond asking staff to report at the Jan. 20 council meeting or at the Jan. 26 work study.
What comes next: staff will provide a certified accounting of payments tied to the contested job title and the city attorney will draft ordinance language to reconcile the municipal code and current staffing before the issue returns to council for a formal legal resolution.
