Editor,

How many realize the City of Langley has a very new citizen committee called Finance and Personnel Legislative Commission? It was started in March 2022. They have held an intensity of meetings, often two or three each month to talk about all things finance and personnel in Langley. I don’t think many in the community are aware of the depth of their discussions, so I’m writing this letter to speak up, and ask each of you to come to the public meetings whenever possible, or even listen in via Zoom, and participate.

The Finance and Personnel Legislative Commission (call it FPLC for short) has made many advisory recommendations to the city council that will change this city, perhaps for the better, or perhaps not.

One change they, and certain council members, would like to see happen is for the city to create a brand new job called city administrator / clerk. Sounds innocuous, doesn’t it? Go to the city website and read the job description they’ve posted. I don’t know a human being that could do all of the requirements, even at this salary range, maybe you do?

The salary will make this position the highest paying salaried job in the City of Langley: $94,000 – $118,000, plus the usual benefits.

This job will take over many of the current functions of the mayor. Currently, Langley has a “strong mayor” role in this mayor/council city. This new job becomes sort of a backdoor approach to avoid asking the voters to vote to change to a council/mayor form of government. Langley went through that intense exercise approximately 12 years ago, you may remember this. In addition to the newly created city administrator /clerk job, they have voted to make a major reduction in the salary of the city mayor, down to $1,000 per month.

With the election cycle candidate registrations coming due May 15, Langley has two city council positions open, plus the mayor position open. These changes are so major this close to the candidate registration cycle, that I feel it is imperative for the City of Langley to host a big community meeting so everyone could be brought up to speed and discuss this fully.

Leanne Finlay

Langley