Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan told the city’s police chief and 911 call center director on her last day in office that they should continue using bonuses to hire police officers and dispatchers this year; though the City Council had voted to stop the bonuses effective Dec. 31. Five police officers and at least 13 dispatchers were hired with bonuses in January, according to an email from new Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration to Councilmember Lisa Herbold on Feb. 4.
But the January bonuses weren’t budgeted for by City Hall. The administration missed the message and didn’t realize until late January that bonuses were still being granted, Deputy Mayor Monisha Harrell wrote in the email to Herbold, the council’s public safety committee chair.
The Seattle Police Department and the city’s Community Safety Communications Center “have continued to offer incentive bonuses throughout the entire month of January, unbeknown to me, Mayor Harrell, or, as far as I’m aware, any member of the Harrell administration,” the deputy mayor wrote. “I have since directed both SPD and CSCC to cease offering the supposedly sunsetted bonuses immediately and to withdraw any related advertising and communications. Council was clear in its intent and had the legal authority to do so.”
Now the Harrell administration and the council need to sort out whether the council’s authority was violated and, potentially, how to pay for the January bonuses. The Harrell administration didn’t immediately Wednesday share how much money was promised or awarded in bonuses last month.
The Harrell administration learned about Durkan’s directives on Jan. 27, and learned bonuses were still being offered on Jan. 28, Jamie Housen, a spokesperson for the mayor, said Wednesday. “This new information directly conflicted with how the Durkan administration had previously briefed the incoming Harrell administration on these bonuses,” Housen said.
Apart from what’s already happened, the new administration and the council need to discuss whether to offer hiring incentives to police officers, 911 dispatchers and other city employees in the future, Herbold said. An analysis on the issue is due soon. Harrell hasn’t yet said what he wants to do moving ahead.
