Dp Mayor Says Salary Should Be Increased Bob Dano Won’t Benefit; He’s Not Running Again

Deer Park Mayor Bob Dano has decided not to seek re-election in November.

Dano announced his decision at last week’s City Council meeting.

“I don’t plan to be in this much longer,” said Dano, 75.

“My wife and I still have things we’d like to do.”

But Dano said he also has something he’d like to do before he retires: convince the council to raise the mayor’s salary from $400 per month to $1,000.

The council will vote Wednesday on Dano’s proposal, which would require the mayor to spend a specific number of hours in the office during the traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. work day.

If the mayor works at least 20 hours a week, Monday through Friday, he or she is eligible to receive $1,000 a month. The mayor would get $400 a month for anything less than 20 hours a week.

“Those are the hours that people in town come in and want their questions answered,” Dano said. “That’s when employees are working here. If you’re going to be a mayor, then you’ve got to be here.

“We know that any mayor is on-call for 24 hours a day out here,” Dano said. “But if he or she doesn’t have the time to manage (in that time frame), I don’t believe they should run for office.”

Deer Park resident Mike Wolf, who served on the city council in the 1980s, doesn’t agree with the measure’s hourly mandate.

“No other city in the state requires a mayor to serve X number of hours for X number of dollars. It’s not an 8 to 5 job,” Wolf said.

“I’ve told this to Bob before. He’s a good friend, we have coffee together, but I don’t agree with it. This proposal is trying to dictate management technique in my estimation.”

Some opponents of the measure say paying the mayor based on set hours could eliminate good candidates for the position who have full-time jobs. They say it would be difficult for the mayor to make a living solely on $1,000 per month.

Despite some opposition, city councilman Duane Golden said he will vote for the proposal.

“Let me ask you this,” Golden said. “How does someone run for mayor if they’re obligated to something else and don’t have the time?

“I never worked a job in my life where I didn’t have to be there,” Golden said. “I never told my bosses what hours I was going to work, they told me.”

Golden said Deer Park’s changing environment makes it necessary for the mayor to be in the office at least part time during the day.

“The city is growing, we need a mayor who can be there at least part of the time during the working day. And that person should be compensated for it,” he said. , DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WHAT OTHERS MAKE Some Eastern Washington towns, their approximate populations and mayor’s monthly salaries: Airway Heights, pop. 1,971, $1,000. Chewelah, pop. 1,945, $542. Colfax, pop. 2,713, $417. Deer Park, pop. 2,278, $400.