Honoring volunteers, the transferring of a guestbook to the McCleary Historical Society, and an overview of the city’s finances through the second quarter of 2025 meant the city council had a full agenda to work through at their Aug. 13 city council meeting.

With Councilor Brycen Huff and Councilor Andrea Dahl not in attendance, Councilor Brent Schiller chaired the meeting. Councilor Jacob Simmons suggested modifying the agenda to move the Bear Fest proclamation and the new business of discussing employment contracts for the police chief and city treasurer to the next meeting so a full council could be present to participate in the employment contract discussion, and recognize Councilor Dahl for her work with the Bear Festival.

Because the council insisted on wanting the full council to be present to discuss this agenda item, it was recommended to hold a special meeting the following week to continue the conversation. The council returned to this agenda item later in the meeting.

Councilmember Schiller read the Train Restoration Proclamation, which closed by saying, “Now, therefore, I, Brycen Huff, Mayor Pro-Tem of the city of McCleary, do hereby proclaim gratitude and commendation to the volunteers who restored the skirting around the train enclosure at Beerbower Park, and encourage all citizens to recognize and celebrate their contribution to our community.”

Councilor Schiller gave an overview of the Planning Commission, which has openings that need to be filled; those interested can submit an application to city hall.

The council confirmed the appointment of John Heley, the principal of the McCleary School District to the Civil Service Commission. To Councilor Simmons’ question of why Heley’s joining the Civil Service Commission now, considering the position has been vacant for four years, Heley replied that during a conversation with Chief Ryan Miskell, “He reminded of my interest, both civically and also, that as a professional, this is what I do: I partner with agencies, I bring people together. … And this is the community that my wife and I have chosen to raise our kids in, so to have the ability to allow that community to move forward is an honor.”

The 2026 Budget Calendar was presented and city Administrator Jon Martin answered questions about the timeline of developing the budget.

City-Clerk Treasurer Jamie Vinyard presented a recap of the Washington State Auditor’s accountability and financial statement audits from Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2023. Two key audit findings were payroll controls deficiency and procurement compliance issues. Of the latter finding, the procurement purchasing policy that dates to 2018 needs to be updated. Two additional items were noted in a management letter: financial reporting deficiencies and cost allocation problems.

The Revised Action Plan included in the agenda packet outlines the immediate actions and short-term actions.

“Undoubtedly, we still have a lot of work to do, but we have made significant progress,” Vinyard said. “We have positive developments. We are establishing a stronger foundation for the next audit in 2026.”

Councilor Schiller gave kudos to Vinyard and the city staff for getting “this stuff rectified.”

A discussion followed what the State Auditor’s report called out. In some cases, the city had minimal policies in place or policies that hadn’t been updated in recent years.

“A lot of it is lack of documentation to support why things were done,” Vinyard said.

Martin presented a financial update to the council.

“The budget is exactly how we presented in January,” said Martin. “It’s pretty much what we projected.” He added that the property and sales taxes are on target, miscellaneous revenues are ahead of schedule, and utility tax is slightly behind. When looking at the budget items requiring monitoring, personnel costs for police was noted, with a $23,900 payout pending for underpayment of overtime so an adjustment is needed.

A concern Martin noted for the Light & Power Department is that “we really haven’t been putting money aside for some major infrastructure and we got substations that someday we’re going to need to deal with. Again, from a capital point of view, that we need to start thinking about what we’re going to be doing in the future.”

Councilor Simmons asked about any indication of any percentage increase for power. Martin said they will know more after Sept. 30 once the final report is finalized.

With the financial reporting concluded, Martin pivoted to discussing the employment contracts for Chief Miskell and City-Clerk Treasurer Vinyard, as they have been serving for over six months in these positions without formal council confirmation.

“It undermines the efficiency of the city if you don’t know if you’re going to be here,” Martin said. “It’s really hard to be focused on the stuff that goes on.”

He went on to describe the difficulties of recruiting and hiring for city positions.

Councilor Keith Klimek interjected to push back against Martin’s observation of hiring difficulties.

“This is my home,” he said. “Please, please anybody here in this room, please do not disrespect the city of McCleary. Please, I’m just asking. If we’re going to work together, we need to work together to stand up against people complaining about our city.”

Martin clarified that people are positive about the city of McCleary, and his observations are in regard to the government administration.

Councilor Simmons said he was surprised to learn that at-will positions did not have contracts and seconded Martin’s observation that it is difficult to recruit for open positions. The councilors proceeded to debate how to move forward with issuing at-will employee contracts and a need for a change of government. Martin reiterated that he needs legal advice for how to proceed. The council approved a motion for a special council meeting the following week.

The council approved a resolution to declare surplus property allowing the authorization of a donation to a nonprofit organization.

The surplus in question was a guestbook from the opening of McCleary City Hall that Vinyard found in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet in her office.

A special city council meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 21. A video of the Aug. 13, city council meeting is now available online — https://www.cityofmccleary.com/meetings.