Burien’s April 20 City Council meeting saw a sweeping administrative overhaul and a pivotal shift in labor policy.
Between multiple executive sessions, the council appointed Bob Larson as Interim City Manager, aided in the discussions by Interim City Attorney Ann Marie Soto.
A narrow 4–3 vote to repeal the city’s minimum wage ordinance in favor of the voter initiative anchored the session, highlighting a government in the midst of significant legal and fiscal transition.
Executive Sessions & Decisions
The meeting began with Councilmember Sam Mendez moving to add an executive session to the middle of the meeting, in addition to the executive session already planned for the end of the public meeting. Executive sessions are closed meetings that are neither recorded nor discussed with the public, and often involve pending litigation or other legal matters, including hiring and firing of some members of staff.
This plethora of private discussions follows a special meeting last week which was almost entirely in executive session. At the end of that meeting, the council voted to put then City Manager Adolfo Bailon on paid administrative leave. Read our coverage about that meeting at the link.
Councilmember Kevin Schilling brought up actions taken by the mayor and deputy mayor in the week before Mr. Bailon was put on administrative leave. As he started to speak on this, he was interrupted by the interim city attorney who cautioned him not to discuss things that must be kept private.
Councilmember Schilling said he thought it was in the public’s interest to know that the way the mayor and deputy mayor had put the city manager on notice was not correct or appropriate. He said the two members of council took that action without prior council discussion, direction, or approval. Schilling explained that Burien does not have a “strong mayor” form of government, meaning the council as a whole must make decisions before action is taken. He expressed his hope that going forward, proper procedure would be followed.
Later in the meeting Executive Sessions were again the subject of discussion, and Councilmember Sam Mendez said he recognized that these private discussions were needed a lot right now, but looks forward to a time when they are no longer so common. He said he supports government transparency.
The first executive session followed a 25-minute unplanned recess, which, according to an explanation later provided by Schilling, was needed when a community member had a medical emergency.
Support For Small Businesses
Councilmember Alex Andrade read a proclamation honoring Small Business Week. She then explained that supporting small businesses is not just about attending ribbon cuttings. The owner of Paper Delights was present to accept the proclamation, and she mentioned that city policies can affect the success of small businesses.
ShopLocalBurien.com was mentioned, a website where people can find new and interesting local businesses to support, as well as upcoming events. Councilmember Andrade mentioned the recent Wine Walk, which is one of several events that serve as popular and “successful economic drivers” for local businesses.
Public Comments: Concern For Workers
Nearly all public comments were asking the city to go along with the voter approved minimum wage initiative. Speakers said, contrary to what some councilmembers have argued, they were indeed properly informed about what they were voting on at the time they voted. It was mentioned that the only confusion about what Burien’s minimum wage is, was caused by the city itself not going along with what voters wanted.
Some said, rather than catering to business owners, workers should be at the forefront of any minimum wage discussion. They also said there should be no complicating exceptions for small businesses. They said the council has a strong mandate to follow the will of the people, and not to undermine democracy.
Council To Consider Repealing Minimum Wage Ordinance
Councilmember Mendez led another discussion about how to correct the city’s conflicting minimum wage laws. They considered whether to repeal the ordinance, or go through line by line and amend Burien’s minimum wage ordinance. After much discussion, it was agreed that a line by line edit of the original ordinance would be too time consuming, and not give the desired result.
The council voted 4–3 to have staff draft an ordinance repealing the original minimum wage ordinance. The councilmembers in the minority were Kevin Schilling, Linda Akey, and Alex Andrade, who have expressed concern for the initiative not having exemptions for small businesses. Council will vote on this at the next business meeting.
Once the ordinance is repealed, this will leave the city with just one minimum wage law on the books: the one voters approved by an initiative to the people. That initiative bases Burien’s minimum wage on Tukwila’s. As Councilmember Mendez explained, the rate would initially be set based on Tukwila’s minimum wage; according to his reading of the wording, it would thereafter increase based on inflation and no longer be tied to Tukwila.
A Final Executive Session, And New City Management
After the second Executive Session, the council unanimously approved the appointment of Bob Larson as the new Interim City Manager. Larson’s contract will be sorted out by the city’s new Interim City Attorney Ann Marie Soto, as that position has also recently been vacated by former City Attorney Garmon Newsom.
Larson brings decades of municipal leadership experience to Burien, having served in city management roles across Washington and Minnesota since the 1980s. His background includes long tenures as city administrator in Snoqualmie and Gig Harbor, as well as recent interim leadership positions in cities such as Newcastle and North Bend, where he was brought in during periods of transition. Larson is also a past president of the Washington City Management Association and is widely regarded for his experience in municipal operations, finance and organizational management.
Councilmember Schilling pointed out the fiscal issues that will be created by paying the salaries of both an interim city manager and one who is out on administrative leave. Schilling asked the council majority to figure out what exactly is their long term plan with this change.
Now, they got some experience in the Managers position. Not a guy whose experience was town supervisor for 2000 people. LoL.
Michael Unbewust = Katie Wilson advocate and also resides in Seattle…
Go home
For Burien, let’s not follow Seattle’s lead on much of anything please, watch them destroy their economy and disillusion small business
It is so refreshing to have rational leadership in city council under Moore. These last few years have been absolute torture under the undemocratic and anti-working class leadership of Schilling. And Bailon. And Newsom.
It’s like the swamp has finally been drained and it’s now safe to swim. We are finally able to stop the bleeding. As I understand, we still need to drop the frivolous lawsuit. Now if we could just get Schilling to resign.
Thank you to all the Burienites that showed up to support the voter initiative, it’s important to demonstrate that the monied interests in Burien cannot buy all decisions – council answers to workers and voters, not big money donors.
Socialists unite! We can’t wait to see how Burien will finally solve how Socialism has failed every time it’s been tried throughout history. With this Council giving it’s all the results are bound to be different, finally Burien will be on the map and everything will be free and glorious with happy workers!
Burien raising wages isn’t “socialism,” it’s a standard policy used in nearly every functioning economy.
If that’s your definition of socialism, then the U.S. has been “socialist” since 1938.
If you actually want to talk socialism, look at places like Denmark or Norway. Strong worker protections, universal healthcare, solid education, high citizen satisfaction, and still very successful economies.
Lumping that in with failed authoritarian regimes isn’t an argument, it’s just mixing terms.
Denmark and Norway have some of the highest taxes of any Country and are considered welfare states, using them is a poor example of Socialism when you ignore the historical failures of that ideal.
JJ Grieve:
There are many things the progressive city council of Burien is doing, not just increasing wages…… and I think your well aware of the what those “things” are
Nobody is claiming a single wage increase instantly turns Burien into a socialist city. The concern is about the direction of policy, more government intervention in wages, more mandates on businesses, and the spiraling effect that has over time.
Saying “we’ve had wage laws since 1938” isn’t a defense either… There’s a difference between having a federal baseline and continually ratcheting up local mandates beyond what the local economy can realistically sustain. Pretending those are the same thing is directly careless and/or dishonest.
And the Denmark/Norway comparison gets thrown around constantly, but it’s quite incomplete at best. Those countries succeed because of a mix of high productivity, relatively small and homogeneous populations, and strong market economies, not just because of worker protections. They also come with significantly higher taxes across the board too, which most people tend to ignore when cherry-picking those countries as examples.
We live in Burien, WA : a small city with a lot of small, locally owned businesses operating on razor thin margins. Policies that might be absorbed in a large, high-productivity national economy don’t translate to a local level without direct consequences.
At the end of the day, this isn’t about ideological labels, it’s about outcomes. If higher wage mandates in Burien lead to fewer entry-level jobs, higher costs for residents, and more strain on small businesses, then pointing to Scandinavia or 1938 won’t fix that will it? That’s reality, I know.
You can support higher wages, but pretending there are no downsides or broader ideological implications is actively disregarding real, current, issues.
Amen!
Burien Actors Theatre (BAT) is an economic driver. The article says, “Councilmember Andrade mentioned the recent Wine Walk, which is one of several events that serve as popular and “successful economic drivers” for local businesses.” That is great, and Burien needs more of that kind of event, but a reminder: BAT produces 75 days of events a year in Burien, drawing patrons from up and down the I-5 corridor.
BAT produces four indoor plays a season with multiple performances at Kennedy Catholic High School, a monthly cabaret at Angelo’s, and monthly karaoke at the Tin Room, plus free plays in the parks every Summer. (BAT had to scale back after the Annex was torn down.)
Arts tourists, on average, spend $39.07 per person in the city where the theater is located, excluding spending at the venue.
In 2017, the Foster School of Business studied BAT’s impact on the Burien economy. It confirmed that BAT patrons who came from up and down I-5 spent just a few cents less than the national average in Burien.
Well let’s see how long Bob will stay with Burien. His track record at his last 3 City manager position since 2018 seems to be about 1 1/2 yrs each. There was Snoqualmie, Gig Harbor and Newcastle.