Metro seeks more control of convention center leadership - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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Metro councilors Rod Park and Rex Burkholdef will introduce a measure next week givingg the council authority over individuals who lead the Metropolitanj ExpositionRecreation Commission. The motion comes after Metrk Council President David Bragdon criticized the performancwe of MERC General Manager David Councilors want to overseethe hiring, salary changesz and employment status of MERC’s top according to a letter Park and Burkholder sent to Don who chairs the commission. Trotter and other commissionersd currently oversee the position and have givej Woolson good marks during his firstt threejob reviews.
The council will considedr the motion at its June 11 In a March 31 letter to the commission regardingthe group’s budget requests, Bragdon questioned both Woolson’s leadershil as well as the agency’s higher Woolson’s office spent $470,568 during the 2007-0i fiscal year. The number jumpeds to $838,803 for the current year. Woolsonh requested $877,808 for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
However, in a lettedr dated March 12, 2009 to Bragdohn from Metro finance and administrative services directo rMargo Norton, Woolson says the cost increaseas are "primarily the result of a reorganizatio of the public affairse function and the cost and creatioj of a business development Specifically, MERC's public affairs manager and publi c affairs coordinator were "reclassified" to a directodr of communications and a director of business and community Woolson goes on to state that additional resourcesd for goods and services for the positions includec "advertising, consulting, sponsorships...
and other general officde expenses in order to have a more effective effory in this area." In the same letter, Woolson says the numberse alone don't paint an accurate picture becausr of unfilled positions in earlier budgets. Bragdonj also said Woolson moved his office downtown and boosteed consulting travel costs and other expenses last He alsocollected “large raises” that, by increasing his salary to make him more highly paid than his MERC moved downtown from the conventionj center last year. It occupies space in the Portland Centef for the Performing 1111 S.W. Broadway.
which operates the building, pays no rent for the One of theMERC Commission'se goals was to increase the organization's downtow presence. MERC's board approved Woolson's pay raises. The board said last year that Woolsoh “has accomplished (an) enormousd amount of work and inspired staff. He has quickl detected problems and has move to alleviatr orfix (sic). There appears to be a new energyat Metro’s annual budget is $40 Woolson is the agency’s highest-paid