I read that Vancouver has hired a new assistant city manager to replace Deputy City Manager Dave Mercier (“Vancouver hires assistant city manager,” June 5, The Columbian).
This new hire is Lenda M. Crawford. She seems to have the experience and educational qualifications, but who does the hiring and who sets the salary? Her starting salary is a whopping $168,000 for her first year.
This salary, for little Vancouver, appears to be excessive, as does our overpaid City Manager Eric Holmes, at an even more whopping salary of $210,000 per year for little Vancouver. What will be, to these most highly paid city officials, their next salary range increase and do we Vancouver taxpayers have any influence or voice in their salary range and wage increases? If not, then there must be better safeguards and policies included in such matters that affect our tax dollars.
Maybe reading The Columbian more often and attending more city council meetings and writing more letters to the editor and making better voter election choices would be to our advantage.
