County council approves two-year contract for County Manager Kathleen Otto

County Manager Kathleen Otto will see a nearly 9 percent increase to her salary as of May 1, followed by another 6 percent increase on Jan. 1, 2027, under a new two-year contract unanimously approved by the Clark County Council on April 20.

Otto’s salary, which is currently around $219,000 per year, will increase to $238,880 on May 1 and then increase to $250,824 at the start of the new year.

Council Chair Sue Marshall said the county has previously fallen behind in ensuring staff compensation is keeping pace with similarly sized counties and other employers, which prompted staff to leave.

The county hired a consultant to do a compensation study in 2022, but “for whatever reason, the county manager’s position was not included,” Marshall said.

After the study, a majority of staff were given raises of up to 15 percent. Some departments, especially the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, received funding for hiring bonuses.

In considering the new contract for Otto, Marshall said, department heads and elected officials were asked to provide feedback on Otto’s performance before the budget office made its salary recommendation.

“The evaluation was, in most cases, very positive and exceeded expectations,” she said.

The new contract will go into effect on May 1 and expire on Dec. 31, 2028, with the option to extend the contract for an additional year.

Marshall said a more formal annual performance evaluation for the county manager also has been adopted, replacing the less formal reviews in place since Otto was promoted in 2020.

“To ensure this continues moving forward, the (council) chair — whomever that may be — will initiate the process annually,” Marshall said.

With the exception of the city of Vancouver, Otto’s salary is similar to city executive salaries in other parts of the county. City manager or city administrator salaries for Ridgefield, Camas, Battle Ground and Washougal range from $209,000 to $243,000 per year. In January, the Vancouver City Council voted to increase City Manager Lon Pluckhahn’s annual salary to $340,200.

Not everyone was in support of increasing Otto’s pay. Vancouver resident Wendy Cleveland suggested the council pull the discussion entirely to allow for more public engagement.

“It seems like this is a very important decision that has been tucked away into an exceedingly long list of items scheduled for approval en masse. The decision as to whether the current county manager stays in her role for another term seems to be something that should have been discussed, even voted on by the council,” Cleveland said during public comment.

If such a discussion already had taken place, Cleveland said, it would have been without the public’s knowledge and in violation of the state’s open meetings act. She said the public should be given greater opportunity for input, as many people weren’t aware the salary increase was on the agenda.

Ridgefield resident Rob Anderson also spoke against giving Otto a pay raise, saying she shouldn’t benefit financially from the 1 percent annual property tax increase she urged the council to take last year to offset Clark County’s structural deficit.

“This isn’t public service as we once understood it. Public servants used to accept lower salaries than the private sector because they received outstanding retirement benefits that the rest of us mostly don’t get,” Anderson told the council. “Now, some public servants want both while the public is stuck paying the bill.”