A new job description for the role of events coordinator was approved by Snoqualmie City Council at their meeting on Monday, Feb. 26.

The creation of a new events coordinator position came after the elimination of the contract position of events and economic development in 2017. With the contract position not being renewed for 2018, the city wanted to address the need for an events coordinator as soon as possible.

The goal with the new job description was to drop the economic development portion of responsibilities and focus only on events management. The council rejected the proposal for a job description at their meeting on Jan. 22, after dissatisfaction with the presented responsibilities which still retained some of the economic development responsibilities.

This new description is focused on events coordination at a cheaper cost to the city. The position’s salary range is between $5,175 and $5,752 monthly with benefits. Under the direct supervision of the Administrative Services Director, the employee will recommend and coordinates plans for various community events and activities throughout the year.

Some of the primary responsibilities include coordinating event funding and sponsorships, grants and city funding, recruiting and providing guidance to volunteers, working with legal staff to negotiate and secure contracts, process special events permits, and support community and city-wide merchant group meetings.

The description was passed in a unanimous vote by the city council. Councilmember Bob Jeans said they had received a considerable amount of public input and felt good about the form the description had taken.

The council also voted on a follow-up resolution to amend city code to classify the events coordinator position as a “city officer” which would require anyone chosen for the position to be confirmed by majority vote of the council. The current positions with the officer designation are all department heads such as City Administrator, Finance Officer, Planning Director, Police Chief, and Administrative Services Director.

Councilmembers Bryan Holloway, Sean Sundwall, Matt Laase, and Bob Jeans all expressed opposition to the resolution because the position isn’t a department head and will report to one of the department heads already classified as an officer.

“The job description specifically indicates that this position will report to the Administrative Services Director, it’s clearly a subordinate position, and in many cases this person will be receiving direction from department head positions,” Laase said. “It just doesn’t pass the test for being a position that the council should be taking on and council should be approving on a regular basis. I don’t see a reason to move forward with this.”

Councilmember Peggy Shepard was in favor of the resolution and said that due to the way the previous contract had ended and the increased scrutiny on the city to execute on the events position in a successful way.

“This positions has really struck a cord with our community and has been really challenging,” Shepard said. “The person that occupied this task before really was difficult for many residents and as far as precedent this used to be the case where we did approve these positions and it was changed somewhere in tie. This is not an unusual thing to do. I think we should add this particular position given what we’ve learned form the last person who occupied it. I don’t think it’s a knee jerk reaction I think it is an appropriate response.”

Holloway responded by saying staff may have let council give feedback on certain positions in the past as a courtesy, but it was not city code. He expects the same courtesy to be given to council again for this position.

“I expect the same courtesy, given the recent events around this one, that administration will talk to us as the process goes through of fulfilling this position,” he said. “The long view this is not a position that warrants council in-depth confirmation in my opinion.”

The municipal code amendment failed in a 1-6 vote with Shepard voting in support.

The events coordinator position was opened for applications on Wednesday, March 7, on the city’s website and www.govjobstoday.com.