PORT ANGELES — The Clallam Transit board has voted to give General Manager Kevin Gallacci a 6 percent cost of living raise.
Gallacci, who has not received a cost of living adjustment (COLA) since he became general manager in August 2017, was earning $115,630 per year.
His new salary will be $122,568 when the raise takes effect July 26. The raise was approved by 3-2 vote Wednesday.
“I’m pleased with the discussion the board had,” Gallacci said in a Thursday interview.
“There was support from everybody, but not everybody thought that 6 percent was the number.”
The Clallam Transit board is composed of Clallam County commissioners and Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks city council members.
William Armacost, Mark Ozias, Bill Peach voted to approve the 6-percent COLA for Gallacci.
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin and Juanita Weissenfels voted no.
“Due to the fact that there hasn’t been an increase since 2017, I think it’s way overdue,” said Armacost, Sequim mayor, in the virtual Transit meeting.
“The organization has benefited with his management and leadership skills.”
Weissenfels and non-voting union representative Ed Stanard said they would have favored a 4-percent COLA for Gallacci.
“I have to say, I think Kevin does a wonderful job, but 6 percent is almost a $7,000-a-year increase,” Weissenfels said.
Schromen-Wawrin said government organizations like Clallam Transit should provide upper-level management COLAs in fixed amounts rather than a percentage of the salary.
“I do have some contrarian views on COLA increases,” said Schromen-Wawrin, a Port Angeles City Council member.
“It stands for cost of living adjustment, and the cost of living in Port Angeles, or in Clallam County generally, is the same regardless of who you are, in my opinion.
“So when we do cost of living adjustments based on the percentage of somebody’s salary, that is a dramatically different cost of living adjustment for a higher-wage salary earner than for a lower-wage salary earner.”
Schromen-Wawrin proposed a $3,000 to $4,000 COLA for Gallacci rather than a 6-percent raise. That proposal failed to gain a motion Wednesday.
The Clallam Transit board is expected to discuss Schromen-Wawrin’s idea for a new COLA structure in a future meeting.
In a Thursday interview, Gallacci said he had received no other job offers and was committed to remaining at Clallam Transit “as long as they’ll have me.”
Gallacci, a Port Angeles native who has worked at Clallam Transit since 1984, was the agency’s maintenance manager from 2000 until 2017.
Fixed route and maintenance employees received a 3-percent COLA in 2018, a 3.25-percent COLA in 2019 and a 3-percent COLA in 2020, according to information provided to the board.
The Clallam Transit general manager supervises other managers who are compensated between $82,229 and $110,589, according to the memo.
“I should be held to a little higher standard there as the general manager on the scale, so I felt that it was appropriate that I asked,” Gallacci said in a telephone interview.
“I just felt it was time.”
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at rollikainen@peninsula dailynews.com.
