Tacoma city manager gets new contract, raise. Pauli praised for pandemic response
Tacoma City Council on Tuesday approved a two-year contract with City Manager Elizabeth Pauli.
Pauli’s new contract runs through May 15, 2023. Her annual salary will be $278,720, up from $264,638 outlined in her 2019 agreement.
Pauli handles the day-to-day operations of the city and became Tacoma’s first woman city manager in 2017 after the departure of T.C. Broadnax. She previously worked as the city attorney.
Pauli oversees a staff of 2,324 people and a biennial budget of $2.3 billion. Tacoma has a population of more than 215,000.
City Council members praised Pauli on Tuesday for her work leading the city through the pandemic.
“This has been an incredibly tough year for the city,” Mayor Victoria Woodards said. “We pivoted quickly from being an all in-person government to being able to do everything virtually ... The actual pivot itself was very easy for us and that’s because we have Elizabeth Pauli at the helm of this organization.”
“I think Tacoma has a city manager that they can be proud of,” Woodards added.
Council member Lillian Hunter applauded Pauli’s resilience as the city faced unprecedented challenges, and said that “a lesser person probably would have folded.”
“Elizabeth has met those challenges with strength, with grace and with decorum even while being unfairly under attack during multiple times during the year,” Hunter said.
Pauli faced repeated demands for her resignation last year after she did not immediately fire the officers involved in the death of Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who died in March 2020 after being restrained by police while being arrested. The case is under investigation by the Washington state Attorney General’s Office, which is expected to complete a case review any day now.
“You’ve dealt with a lot,” said Council member Chris Beale. “We’ve had a lot of high-profile issues in this community — Manuel Ellis being one of them, and dealing with issues around homelessness is another really big one. And you’ve done the best you can, and I know you’ve done the best you can, because I’ve seen it.”
In her annual performance review, Pauli was rated a 3.94 out of 5 by City Council, nearly “exceeding expectations.” The performance review urged continued work toward the city’s anti-racist transformation efforts and asked her to examine ways for greater outreach to under-represented communities.
Council also asked for increased inclusion in external messaging to the public.
“The Council would like to see increased capacity in the Media and Communications department to address breaking issues,” stated the performance review. “Clarify and strengthen the relationship between this department and Council Members.”
