Kennewick hires Marie Mosley as city manager

It's official: Marie Mosley is hired as Kennewick's city manager.

Mosley won a 6-1 approval from the city council on her contract, which will pay her $136,700 a year. But she had to make concessions on severance pay, comp time and the $10,000 one-time bonus that were part of the original contract language.

Bob Parks was the only no vote on approving the trimmed-down contract, which is a mutual agreement by the parties and has no specified termination date.

Mosley agreed to halving the original proposal for a one-year severance package that would have been available after six months of employment and gave up getting what she called the $10,000 "one-time incentive award."

She also conceded on the discretionary comp time benefit, noting that as a chief executive she already is exempt from having to report or track her hourly work schedule. That means she works and takes takes time off according to what it takes to do the job.

"It is very important to me to have consensus of the council and move forward in a unified manner," Mosley said in announcing her decision to make the contract concessions.

"It was important that I listened to your concerns," she told the council.

The only hitch in the vote came when Sharon Brown, mayor pro tem, amended the motion to reduce the severance pay provision that had been pared down from six months to one year only for the contract year 2011. Brown wanted it to be a three-month severance package this year, switching to six months in severance pay starting in 2012.

Mosley noted that severance pay would only be provided if she was asked to leave through no fault of her own. It would not be provided if she chose to resign or was fired for cause.

Councilman Don Britain, who had balked at severance, the $10,000 incentive pay and the comp time at the last council meeting, said most of his concerns were satisfied with the revised contract.

"I appreciate the concessions. You've addressed my concerns, for the most part," he said.

Parks said he would not support the contract because of the severance pay, which he said was a problem for several constituents who had called him.

He added that Mosley was a quality executive who could probably keep her job with the city as long as she wanted to.

"I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve as your city manager," Mosley said.

Earlier in the meeting, the council approved a resolution setting the conditions for the city manager's performance reviews and providing pay increases for the city manager based on achieving agreed upon goals.

Those conditions require the council to evaluate Mosley's performance on goals that can trigger incremental increases in pay.

Parks also voted against that resolution.

John Trumbo: 582-1529; jtrumbo@tricityherald.com

This story was originally published April 6, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Kennewick hires Marie Mosley as city manager ."