Interim city manager receives pay raise
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POLSON – Interim city manager Wade Nash’s pay has been increased, and the city isn’t any closer to filling the position permanently.
All members of the commission who attended the meeting voted in favor of awarding Nash the pay increase he requested. His new salary will be $3,000 per month in addition to his salary as Chief of Police. Nash will be paid retroactively starting on June 1.
According to the previous agreement, Nash was paid $461.54 per bi-weekly pay period, which was less than $1,000 per month.
In his request for the pay increase, Nash said he took the position because he felt that “the city as a whole was sinking,” after the former city manager, city attorney, and city engineer left the city in a period of two weeks.
Nash said that city staff, community members and the commission asked him to temporarily take the position of interim city manager. “Now more than six months later, it does not appear that we are any closer to hiring a city manager,” Nash wrote to the commission.
Nash documented his accomplishments as interim city manager, including hiring a city attorney, engineering firm and building official. He also notes his involvement in litigation, budget and construction projects. Nash said he was “fully committed” to staying in the position if the salary negotiation was completed.
Commissioner Bob Martin praised Nash’s work, saying, “He’s been doing everything we would ask a city manager to do.”
Commissioner Brodie Moll commented that he thought the commission needed to work toward hiring a permanent city manager.
Nash said he and City Attorney Clint Fischer have been working to navigate the legal requirements for hiring a new city manager. “I told him last week we need to start putting pen to paper,” Nash said. “When we started out, I signed up for 90 days and now we’re at eight months, so it’s time.”
The commission also approved the abandonment of platted but non-existent streets and alleys that exist on the Linderman Elementary School campus. Now that the city does not own those areas, the entire plot of land where the school is built will be designated as a single parcel of land. Nash said the school’s insurance company required the school to have one continuous plot of land before pledging funds to rebuild the school’s gymnasium.
