PORT ANGELES — City Manager Kent Myers has selected Byron Olson, Sunnyside deputy city manager and chief financial officer, to serve as the city of Port Angeles’ interim finance director for up to six months beginning May 17.
Olson, 60, said in an interview Tuesday that he is “98 percent” certain he will apply for the permanent finance director position vacated March 15 after city Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski was fired.
During his tenure, Olson said he expects to review with other top city officials the city cash-out policy that led to Ziomkowski’s termination “to do what we can do to make sure the rules and regulations regarding that are explicitly clear to everyone involved.”
Olson said he will be paid $50 an hour for up to six months, or up to $48,000 at 40 hours a week, but added that he expects a new finance director to be hired before six months have passed and anticipates that a new city manager will be hired first to replace Myers.
Myers’ last day is Tuesday before he leaves to become city manager of Fredericksburg, Texas.
The City Council on April 17 tapped city Fire Chief Dan McKeen to fill Myers’ position on an interim basis.
Olson, 60, of Prosser, has a sister-in-law in Victoria and friends in Gig Harbor, and has visited Port Angeles and Sequim to golf, he said.
He and his wife, Phillis, have been married 18 years and have two adult children.
Permanent post
“I most likely would want to be a candidate for the permanent position,” Olson said.
“I would say that I am probably 98 percent certain that I would apply.”
Myers said Olson’s name was referred to the city by Issaquah-based Prothman Co., an executive search firm the City Council hired April 17 for $17,500 plus expenses to find qualified applicants to permanently replace Myers.
Prothman will be paid an as-yet-undetermined additional fee for referring Olson to the city, Myers said.
The City Council has decided a professional recruiter expected to cost $15,000 plus expenses also would be hired to find a permanent replacement for Ziomkowski, a 24-year city employee.
Myers fired her March 15 for violating city policy by taking $28,862 in vacation and sick-leave cash-outs that covered three years.
The Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office did not file charges recommended by the State Patrol against Ziomkowski, saying a state Auditor’s Office report determined 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.
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.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
