SEQUIM — This city has a new manager, though she’s not quite physically at her desk.
Linda Herzog, until now the interim deputy manager of Mercer Island, becomes interim city manager of Sequim today at a salary of $7,083 per month.
“We’ll be calling on her .âÇ.âÇ. and making telephone introductions to each council member,” City Attorney Craig Ritchie said on Monday.
He added that Herzog will move in to her City Hall office on Wednesday.
Her arrival coincides with the hastened departure of Police Chief Robert Spinks, Sequim’s interim city manager since the City Council fired Bill Elliott on May 5.
Last month, Spinks was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a noncancerous tumor on his auditory nerve. Doctors told him the 2.5-centimeter growth, if left untreated, will kill him.
He’s scheduled to have surgery to remove the tumor on Wednesday, and checks in to Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle today, his 50th birthday.
Back to police work
During the City Council study session on Monday, Spinks called his time as interim manager a learning experience, and thanked city staffers for their dedication.
“After I get my head drilled on, I’m looking forward to returning to police work,” the chief added.
Spinks has said he’ll convalesce for four to eight weeks before returning to light duty.
His second in command, Lt. Sheri Crain, recently recovered from knee surgery and is acting police chief.
During Monday’s study session, the council voted unanimously to hire Herzog, and approved a $700 monthly housing allowance in addition to her annual salary of $85,000.
The council also agreed to hire Herzog for at least nine months, a condition Ritchie said she requested.
The city will need her for that long, he added, since even if a permanent manager is found sooner, “you’ll need some transition time.”
Herzog, 62, and her husband own a home in Quilcene.
But the interim manager said last week that she wants to live in Sequim, and would hate to “spew all that stuff into the atmosphere, driving back and forth.”
She added that she wants to bring her bicycle here for some pedaling on the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Herzog has held interim management jobs in Mercer Island and Renton since 2001.
From 2003 to 2005, she also served as associate director of the Urban Health Initiative at the University of Washington, a set of programs aimed at improving children’s health in Baltimore, Oakland, Calif., Philadelphia, Richmond, Va., and Detroit.
She was the city of Redmond’s deputy executive from 1991 till 2001.
Two-week vacation
Herzog has planned a two-week vacation beginning Jan. 12, so Sequim will soon need an acting city manager.
On who should fill that position, the council members tangled briefly.
Ritchie was acting manager when Spinks attended a police chiefs’ conference in Pasco last month. But, Ritchie told the council that any administrative staff member can do the job.
Council member Susan Lorenzen suggested appointing Karen Goschen, Sequim’s administrative services director and architect of the 2009 budget, acting manager.
Council member Paul McHugh said that sounded like “change for the sake of change,” and asked Lorenzen to explain her choice.
She replied that it had sounded to her like Ritchie was urging the council to look at someone besides himself.
Council member Walt Schubert said Ritchie has more experience as acting manager. Finally the council voted 5-1, with only Schubert dissenting, to appoint Goschen.
While Herzog is away, Goschen will receive a 10 percent increase in her annual salary, which is $80,891.
Near the end of the council’s discussion of Herzog’s contract, member Bill Huizinga asked Ritchie if her January vacation will be a paid one.
“We haven’t discussed that,” Ritchie replied.
Herzog’s contract states she’s eligible for the same benefits as other city department directors, including eight hours of vacation per month.
Herzog, interviewed in Mercer Island during a lunch break last week, said she’s heard about the council’s differences of opinion on various issues, and isn’t daunted in the least.
“That’s quite normal,” she said.
Recruiter hired
On Nov. 24 the council voted to hire Waldron & Co., a Seattle human resources firm, to first facilitate a half-day team-building session for the members, and then begin a search next year for a permanent city manager.
The members weren’t quite in full agreement, however. Erik Erichsen cast the lone dissenting vote against hiring Waldron, saying the council doesn’t need to pay a professional to help its members get along.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
