PORT ANGELES — Harbor-Works Development Authority Executive Director Jeff Lincoln has been granted a $15,000 a year raise retroactive to March.
Lincoln, who was hired in May 2009 at a salary of $115,000 annually, receives new salary of $130,000, representing a 13 percent increase.
The five-member Harbor-Works board, meeting Monday, voted unanimously to give Lincoln the raise.
The public development authority’s president, Orville Campbell, and board member Howie Ruddell have met as a subcommittee since the board’s May meeting to evaluate Lincoln’s salary.
At the May meeting, board members gave Lincoln a favorable annual job review.
“Mr. Lincoln came on because of the challenge and the uniqueness of the position, and his salary at $115,000 was significantly below the specified range,” Ruddell said.
“We had the agreement when he came on that after six months we would consider an adjustment — November would have been the time to do that.
“We have gotten a superb value for the money based on the review we did last month.”
Ruddell pointed out that the new salary was still below what the job had been budgeted and advertised — $144,000.
During Monday’s half-hour board discussion about his salary, Lincoln did not comment.
“I know Jeff is reticent to even discuss a salary increase, but we have a commitment to him, and the least we can do is to make an adjustment as we had talked about,” said board member Jim Hallett.
Performance
Hallett went on to say that when evaluating Lincoln’s performance, he considered several aspects.
“One way to evaluate someone is looking at performance, of course, or against a standard or expectation,” Hallett said.
“One could suggest that he isn’t done yet because we haven’t been able to make the decision whether or not [the purchase of the Rayonier mill property] is a go or no go.
“I would say that he has gotten it to the point that . . . the board could make decisions based on the work that is in progress.”
In addition to the raise, the board also increased Lincoln’s monthly car allowance from $350 per month to $525 and his paid vacation time from 15 days to 25 days.
Previous work
Lincoln previously worked for the Port of Olympia and was facilities development director for the Port of Tacoma and public works director for Steilacoom and Poulsbo. He is a retired lieutenant colonel with the Army Corps of Engineers.
Harbor-Works is funded by the city of Port Angeles and Port of Port Angeles, which created the public development authority in May 2008 to direct the environmental cleanup and redevelopment of the former Rayonier Inc. mill site, which has been a state Department of Ecology cleanup project since 2000.