PORT ANGELES — Now that the City Council has voted to make interim City Manager Dan McKeen permanent, he has an array of pressing issues before him, he said.
On McKeen’s plate is an anticipated general-fund deficit of up to $600,000 expected by the end of 2012 and the filling of fire chief and finance director vacancies, he said Friday.
Port Angeles City Council members Friday unanimously agreed to hire McKeen for the city manager position held until early May by Kent Myers, who left to become the top city executive of Fredericksburg, Texas.
The council, which directed city staff to begin working on McKeen’s employment contract, has set an annual salary of up to $145,000 for his position.
McKeen, the Port Angeles fire chief for 12 years before his April 17 interim appointment, was roundly praised in a letter of recommendation from nine department heads who lauded his “balanced, considerate and respectful approach to all sides of an issue.”
Comments from all seven council members were equally laudatory before they agreed to hire him at Friday’s special council meeting.
“He’s brought a calmness to the city that hasn’t been here for a number of months or years,” said Councilman Dan Di Guilio, former mayor.
Mayor Cherie Kidd added that McKeen “has already had a unifying effect.”
Urged to apply
Kidd was among the council members and citizens who had urged McKeen to apply for the permanent position after he told the Peninsula Daily News on April 17 that he had “no intention” of submitting his application, McKeen said.
The council action came after a brief executive session and concluded with a loud round of applause from council members and city staff.
Until a few weeks ago, “this wasn’t on my radar,” McKeen said after the meeting.
McKeen said in an interview that lower-than-anticipated sales-tax and utility-tax revenues, combined with criminal justice costs that had exceeded what was anticipated for 2012, had created an expected shortfall of “up to about $600,000” in the approximately $18 million general-fund spending plan if revenues and expenditures continue on their present path.
The city will not fill some vacancies, and staff is reviewing other areas in which the budget might be cut that will be presented to the City Council at its July 31 budget work session, where it will review the proposed 2013 budget, McKeen said.
“I’m hoping we can narrow the gap significantly,” he said.
The city has about $2.5 million in reserves, but that’s only about two-thirds of what the city needs for three months of operations, a necessary cushion, McKeen said.
“Taking from reserves to balance the budget would not be a good practice,” he added.
New fire chief needed
McKeen also must select a new fire chief, a position now held on an interim basis by Assistant Fire Chief Ken Dubuc, and a new finance director, a position held on an interim basis by former Sunnyside Deputy City Manager-Chief Financial Officer Byron Olson.
Olson said Friday he has applied for the permanent position, while Dubuc said he will submit an application to succeed McKeen as fire chief.
McKeen praised the performances of Dubuc and Olson.
Olson’s name was referred to the city by Issaquah-based Prothman Co., an executive search firm the City Council hired for $17,500 plus expenses to find qualified applicants to permanently replace Myers.
Prothman had billed the city $8,500 for the search for Myers’ replacement as of last week, Olson said Friday.
Prothman’s contract was terminated before the City Council voted to hire McKeen.
McKeen had been hired for the interim position for up to 120 days for $11,225 a month, which totals $134,700 a year.
He made $9,379 a month as fire chief.
Salary ranges for the finance director and fire chief positions have not been determined, city Human Resources Manager Bob Coons said Friday.
The City Council has approved a $15,000 contract with Prothman, plus expenses, to find a permanent replacement for former Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski, a 24-year city employee fired by Myers on March 15 for violating city policy by taking $28,862 in vacation and sick-leave cash-outs that covered three years.
A state Auditor’s Office report determined that the city’s “unclear policies and inadequate controls” resulted in possible incorrect payments and that no employees intentionally misappropriated money or intentionally did anything wrong.
Cash-outs
Ten other employees since 2003 also received cash-outs that exceeded city policy.
Overpayments were approved by a supervisor or possibly were a result of payroll error, city staff have said.
McKeen’s overpayment of $11,431 for 237 hours of leave in 2007 was second only to the amount overdrawn by Ziomkowski, who was allowed to keep $32,867 in overpayments.
McKeen was allowed to keep his overpayment because it was approved by then-City Manager Mike Quinn.
A City Council subcommittee is working on revising the policy on unused vacation and sick-leave cash-outs, Kidd said Friday.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
