Bonney Lake council weighs retirements, staffing and whether to split public services amid budget pressure

Bonney Lake’s council spent its meeting reviewing a wave of retirements and active recruitments, debating whether to split the public services department and pressing city leaders for an aggressive plan to hire a city administrator and finance director amid a projected budget shortfall.

The session opened with a department staffing update. A staff member reported that an accounting specialist, Mariah Gallagher, is set to start in March and that the public works superintendent recruitment will close March 19. The city also has a custodian posting that closed March 5 and plans to hire 23 seasonal positions this summer, including six parks ambassador roles. Two employees in the water division are separating; one employee named Cherry is expected to have a last in-office day of March 17, and a senior staffer, Sue, is slated to retire June 5.

Council members pressed staff about whether recent recruitments were prompted by retirements. The staff response was that some openings predated retirements and others resulted from role changes as directors shifted positions. The public services director said long vacancies — not the department’s organizational chart…