UPDATED May 28 at 9:45 a.m. – Last Wednesday, Grays Harbor County Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor Jon Beltran presided over the inception of the County’s Salary Commission.
By the end of the meeting, the Grays Harbor Salary Commission voted to increase the salaries for county commissioners Georgia Miller, Rick Hole and Vickie Raines, Assessor Dan Lindgren, Auditor Joesph R. MacLean, Clerk Kym Foster, Coroner George Kelley and Treasurer Kenneth E. Albert.
Effective June 1, the county commissioners’ salaries will be set at 50% of the elected superior court judge salary (which is set by the state of Washington), comparable to other elected officials of Grays Harbor County. They will earn $114,130.
Currently, the county commissioners are the lowest paid Grays Harbor County elected officials. The current annual salary for a superior court judge in Washington is $228,261.
Effective July 1, those elected officials’ salaries, including the county commissioners, will be bumped up to 60% of the superior court judge salary, (which is scheduled to increase to $237,460 also effective July 1), to $142,476. This raise is based on salaries of elected officials of other comparable counties, including Whatcom, Skagit, Kitsap, Clark, Thurston, Cowlitz, Clallam and Franklin counties, where the average was 62% in 2024.
Only elected Prosecutor Norma Tillotson and Sheriff Darrin Wallace did not receive pay increases. Wallace’s salary is already at 80% of an elected superior court judge, while Tillotson makes the same salary as an elected superior court judge.
The Salary Commission consists of Leanna Ristow, Richard Nyhus, Marguerite La Born, Lynn Csernotta and Sara Oliver. Nyhus was absent and excused from the meeting.
Ristow, Nyhus and La Born were randomly selected from a list of registered voters, one from each of the commissioners’ districts. Csernotta and Oliver were appointed.
Beltran discussed the need for rules and procedures for calling questions, making motions, allowing for discussion and then voting on motions, and a plan to eventually implement Robert’s Rules of Order, “America’s foremost guide to parliamentary procedure.” The commissioners then elected Ristow chair of the salary commission and approved the agenda for the meeting.
County Administrator Sam Kim led a short introduction of current salaries for Grays Harbor County elected officials. Beltran then went on to instruct the commission on the Open Public Meetings and the Public Records acts, which was followed by a deeper dive into elected officials’ salaries, what they’re based on and all the parameters that govern total compensation including benefit packages and annual cost of living increases.
The Grays Harbor County Salary Commission will meet again later this year to develop bylaws and rules of procedure and plans to meet annually thereafter.
