Soap Lake tables stripping mayor pay, establishes hiring committee

SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake City Council weighed two major governance actions — one to strip the mayor’s salary during ongoing investigations, and another to overhaul how the city hires department heads — as tensions over leadership and legal authority continued to dominate.  

Mayor pay  

The council reviewed an ordinance that would reduce Mayor Peter Sharp’s salary to $0 per month while he remains under investigation by the Grant County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Auditor’s Office. The ordinance cites findings of misconduct, including unauthorized expenditures and potentially illegal recordings of staff. 

Council members received conflicting guidance on whether the city can legally make the change mid‑term, deciding to table the ordinance to the following meeting.  

Earlier in the meeting, Sharp told the council he had contacted the Municipal Research and Services Center and was advised that reducing the mayor’s salary during his current term goes against Washington state law. 

“Mayor compensation under Washington state law strictly states that it cannot change the mayor’s pay during his term. It would have to be moved to the next term,” Sharp said.  

City Attorney Julie Norton later countered that interpretation, citing RCW 35A.12.070. She told the council the law restricts mid‑term salary increases for council members — not decreases for the mayor. 

“The law provides that you can change the mayor’s salary midterm. It doesn’t speak at all to decreases; it only speaks to increases,” Norton said. 

She said this was a viable and legal option for the council. 

“It has been done before. It is another conservative measure, proposed as an ordinance. That is only temporary during investigations,” Norton said.  

Norton clarified this is not an attempt to “dethrone” the mayor but a precautionary measure for the city, if the council decides to move forward. 

“That is 100% of what is being done here,” Sharp said. “Because of everything that is going on and everything that has been stripped away from the mayor.”  

Council Member Kayleen Bryson said she had heard the mayor has been absent from City Hall, not returning phone calls and not following up with planning or grants. 

“So, the question is, is if the rest of us are picking up those responsibilities,” Bryson said. “Why are we paying the mayor?” 

Sharp defended himself saying he has been removed from his previous city email, which he says is unlawful. This followed the ordinance approved by council members at the previous meeting which removed his access to city bank accounts. Therefore, he said he has been unable to follow-up on work he was previously doing. He said he has been returning calls and text messages though.   

However, Norton said Grant County IT said the access to his previous email had to be removed because it was associated with too many account accesses. Norton says creating a new email for the mayor has no legal concerns. She said the city has provided Sharp with a new email, which he has yet to set up. She also said he could request Grant County IT share all of his previous emails to his new email, so he could continue work.  

Sharp said he will be reaching out to MRSC to ask them about the legality of the change in emails and then he would set up his new email, requesting all of his old emails to be sent to the new account.  

Council Member John Carlson said he would like to see the mayor get into the new email and see this ordinance tabled.  

“I can say that I would like to move on from this item and it may be pretty aggressive, you yourself have just acknowledged that, ‘Gee, if I did request these emails and I did respond, Can I make things better? Can I repair it?’ And I'm willing to see if that can work,” Carlson said to Sharp. “We do have another council meeting in three weeks, and let's see what kind of repair you can do.”  

“I’ll take that challenge,” Sharp said.  

Hiring committee 

Council also reviewed a resolution establishing a hiring committee to manage recruitment for vacant department head positions, including the city administrator and planning director. 

Under the resolution, the committee would include: the mayor; all current department heads; the city attorney, at her discretion; and one councilmember, selected by the council.  

Applications would be submitted to the city clerk, who must timestamp and forward them to the committee. Meetings would not be open to the public, and candidate information would remain confidential under state public records law. 

The committee would review applications, select interviewees, conduct interviews and recommend finalists to the mayor. The mayor would retain authority to choose a candidate, but no hire would be final without council approval, as required by city code. 

The resolution passed unanimously; however, no council members volunteered to serve on or were appointed to the committee.