By Alia Sinclair

Directly after voting to accept the Employment Agreement with Jonathan Young for the position of SeaTac City Manager in Tuesday night’s (Dec. 10, 2024) SeaTac City Council meeting, councilmember Peter Kwon made a motion to suspend the rules to add an agenda item.

The item added by majority vote was a motion proposing to authorize Mr. Young to be involved in all aspects of the City’s business following the execution of the employment agreement prior to the commencement date of his employment without compensation.

Councilmember Senayet Negusse expressed concern over liability issues, citing the hypothetical example of Mr. Young being injured while working on behalf of the City while not being an official employee of the City.

Councilmember James Lovell spoke of being against the motion due to discomfort with unpaid labor and concerns over the time of year, mentioning many Department Heads and City Staff will be out for the holidays and Mr. Young could not fully engage with onboarding for his new role as a result.

Councilmember Vinson stated that if the offer of uncompensated time was on the table, it would be advantageous for the City to take advantage of it, since the City itself is only closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day and staff still has a City to run in the meantime. He went on to say that if the length of pro bono work time was the issue, the council could simply change the start date to minimize the time Mr. Young was working without pay.

Councilmember Iris Guzman echoed the discomfort of asking Mr. Young to work without compensation and stated that he should be either fully on board and paid, or not onboard and uncompensated, but that the hybrid approach proposed made no sense.

Mayor Mohamed Egal then stated that during contract negotiations, it was Mr. Young who proposed the start date of Jan. 16, 2025. Councilmember Kwon asserted that in the original contract, the start date was listed as Jan. 2 but was amended less than two days before the council meeting. He posed the question of why the start date was changed.

Mr. Young replied that during negotiations he made it known that Jan. 2 was not his preferred start date due to his current obligations and facilitating a smooth transition out of his current role. The City of SeaTac felt that sooner was better, and so Jan. 16 was landed on as a compromise to suit both parties.

When given the chance to speak after council comments, Mr. Young stated that, regardless of the council’s decision, he would be doing his due diligence to get up to speed and that, in his view, the only real question was whether or not the council felt comfortable allowing him access to confidential information before his hitherto agreed upon start date of Jan. 16. Furthermore, Mr. Young stated that the authority Interim City Manager Kyle Moore currently holds is sufficient to run the City and it would be ill advised for him to step in and “muddy the waters” before his official start date.

Councilmember Negusse then moved to amend the original motion made by councilmember Kwon. The amended motion moved to give Mr. Young access to all resources needed – including those of a confidential nature – that would aid him in a smooth transition as City Manager.

Confusion ensued as to what vote was to be taken on what motion. It was clarified that a vote must first be taken on councilmember Kwon’s original motion, and then the amended motion could be entertained.

Councilmember Kwon’s motion failed to pass, with two in favor, (Kwon and Vinson) and the rest dissenting. A vote was then taken on councilmember Negusse’s amended motion that passed 4-2, with councilmembers Lovell and Guzman dissenting.