Thursday, October 1, 2026
The Tumwater City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a communications department at a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 2.
City Administrator Lisa Parks told the council the ordinance amends various parts of the city’s municipal code to create the department and add a communications director position.
The city’s communications team is currently led by Communications Manager Jason Wettstein under Parks’ supervision. The team also includes two specialists who handle newsletters, social media, outreach and public notices.
Staff from other departments also handle some communications work. Parks said the dedicated communications team meets with other staffers regularly to discuss their individual departmental needs and to standardize their procedures.
In forming the new department, Parks said Wettstein is going to be promoted to communications director, a role some council members noted he has already been performing.
Still, there were questions as to how his duties and responsibilities would change as a department director.
In response, Parks said in his new title, Wettstein would take over the budgeting process of his department and would have a direct and proactive responsibility to develop communication strategies.
“As a director, he has the ability then to take all of his knowledge and expertise, which I do not have, and respond and provide you the service and the strategic recommendations for how to accomplish the goals and the priorities that you set for the community around communications,” Parks said.
The promotion carries a salary increase of up to $50,000 for Wettstein. Parks noted the amount falls within the city’s budgeted salaries, meaning no amendment would be required.
The increase applies only to the remaining months of the 2025–26 biennium. Questions were raised about Wettstein’s full salary in the following biennium, but the question was not directly addressed.
Parks outlined several reasons for creating a communications department. She said there is a need for better communication, explaining that a recent statistically valid survey showed many residents do not understand how the city manages its finances.
“That, to me, is an indicator that we're not doing a good job of communicating,” Parks said.
She added the department would also help strengthen public relations, expand the city’s social media presence, and clarify to the media who could speak on the city's behalf.
Parks mentioned the idea of creating a communications department started as the former communications manager Ann Cook was getting ready to leave. Since they were still in the middle of developing the 2026-26 city budget at the time, and since Wettstein was new to his role, Parks said they chose not to pursue the creation of a communications department at that time.
Timing remains an issue up to now, as a few council members questioned why they could not wait instead for the next budgeting season, especially since the city will be getting a new mayor.
“I think 100% a communications department is needed. I just don't know why right now is when we're going to do it,” said Council member Kelly von Holtz.
Despite reservations, the council voted unanimously to establish the department.
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OlyBlues
Instead of the city of Tumwater ever doing anything to reduce costs or be responsible to taxpayers, here is yet another great example of waste, rewards, and favoritism. One would think the city must be flush with cash with all tis unnecessary spending. So Wettstein has been loyal to Parks, who claims she does not have the relevant communications experience...okay. If the city truly needed a communications department, they would post and recruit for a department director position. This is nothing more than allowing Parks to hand-select her mouthpiece and spin doctor, reward him to he tune of a $50K a year raise for being loyal and a good soldier. After the Garry Oak communications fiasco that would have been handled better by a college communications student, I am not surprised to see the city look to better protect it's image and conceal the collusion, corruption, and malfeasance that runs rampant at Tumwater city hall. It looks like Wettstein is being richly rewarded for this.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025 Report this
Tumwater_Granny
Agree with every sentiment expressed by OlyBlues. Why wasn't there an open recruitment for this new position with the city? Must be nice to be handed a 50k raise. If communications between city govt and the general public was poor why are we rewarding someone whose job it already was to keep the public informed?! Or is the $50,000 an incentive to do the job that you were originally paid for? I don't know about anybody else but if I don't do the job that I am hired for, I sure as hell don't get a $50,000 raise so that I can manage other people to do a poor job as well. Wow! Must be nice to be a friend of whoever this Lisa Parks lady is.
Monday, September 15, 2025 Report this