The city will buy some park land on the West Side, talk about the mayors (I mean city managers' pay) and meeting with some neighborhood associations.

Almost every week this is the "What's on the city council's plate this week" review. I don't cover everything, so if you want the full rundown, read the packet and agenda yourself.

1. In Olympia, the city manager is the chief executive, not the Mayor. The Mayor is just a symbolic position, with no more power than any other city council member. So, when the city council talks about raising the city manager's pay, it matters, because the city manager is the one who runs the city.

Here are the details:

Market Adjustment
Adjust the City Manager’s base salary by a 5.73% Market Adjustment, bringing the salary to or slightly above the mean of comparable cities’ managers.

Cost of Living Allowance
Adjust the City Manager’s base salary by a 4.14% Cost of Living Allowance, effective January 1, 2007. This represents the same COLA increases given to other unrepresented employees in 2007.

Performance Payment
The City Manager’s contract allows for an annual performance payment if he achieves the performance goals set by Council and meets the criteria set forth in the City Manager’s contract. The City Council awarded a performance payment of $2,000.

2. One of the the things the city manager may do to earn his pay this year is to sign a contract with Burlington Northern to buy some property on the West Side for a new park and trail. Roughly speaking, the less than 10 acres we're talking about is the railroad between Marathon Park and West Bay. In the city's eyes, this could end up being on killer trail for the bargain basement price of $785,000.

3. The general government committee of the city council will also meet with neighborhood association presidents on Monday night. Here is that agenda:

Quarterly Meeting with Neighborhood Association Presidents
Monday, March 5, 2007, 6:30 p.m.
The Olympia Center
222 Columbia St. NW
Rooms 101-102

6:30-6:50 pm
Introductions, information sharing, reports – Wrap up of Town Hall Meeting – TJ Johnson
Progress Report – Antiquated Plats – Jeff Kingsbury
Naming the ‘---------------‘ new city program – Joe Hyer

6:50-7:05 pm
Olympia Fire Department – Emergency Preparedness in your Neighborhood. 7:05-7:35 pm Public Works – Water Resources Stormwater Issues & Scoping Water Resources staff will briefly describe the work of the Storm and Surface Water Utility to minimize flooding, improve water quality and protect and enhance aquatic habitat. Staff will provide a high level overview of issues we're facing and how the challenges can vary neighborhood by neighborhood. Staff will also share some ideas on how we might better engage with neighborhoods on our efforts, as well as some challenges we've identified in moving forward. Time will be reserved for feedback on how we might proceed to work with individual neighborhoods in 2007, as well as other general feedback and questions.

7:35-7:50 pm

General Government Committee- Advisory Committee Review & Update Information Sharing/Progress Report

7:50-8:00 pm

Wrapping up – Identify Emerging issues, future topics.