PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Administrator Jim Jones’ performance, job description and contract review were up for discussion Monday by Clallam County commissioners.
Take performance off the table — for now.
“I thought it was pretty important that the county administrator’s performance be reviewed,” commissioners’ Chairman Mike Chapman said after the meeting. “I started off the year thinking there needed to be a performance review.”
But it’s hard to review someone under an agreement that only he, Chapman, had approved from among the three commissioners presently sitting on the board, Chapman said.
Commissioner Bill Peach took office in January 2015 and Commissioner Mark Ozias roughly six weeks ago.
But commissioners said at their work session they will move forward with reviewing Jones’ job description and consider drawing up a new contract covering his duties and their expectations of him.
With help from Human Resources Director Rich Sill, they also discussed seeking input from 14 department heads — half are hired by Jones, half are elected — on “competencies,” or qualities that make a good county administrator.
Commissioners said their goal is to have an agreement in place for Jones within six months.
Jones, 62, is slated to earn $150,206 this year in a position he has held since 2006 under a 10-year contract that was last updated in 2009.
Jones predicted later Monday that commissioners could review his performance late this year and possibly at the beginning of 2017.
Timing up in the air
Ozias said after the meeting that the performance review could take place “in the next couple of months,” but that the timing is up in the air.
“I’m looking to my fellow commissioners to develop a process with the human resources office,” he said. “This process is one we are going to continue moving forward.”
The competencies that Chapman said he looks for in an administrator are honesty and, especially, consistency regarding budget numbers.
“The administrator has got to do a better job putting together a consistent budget message,” Chapman said.
Chapman also said accountability and accessibility are important.
“The administrator needs to be as accessible, if not more accessible than he is.”
Jones said later Monday he would not respond to Chapman’s comments.
“He never made those comments to me, so I’ll just let it play out.”
Public Works Director Bob Martin, a county department head under three administrators including Jones, said later Monday that the administrator needs to be a good communicator and have good relationships with the county commissioners, his counterparts in other jurisdictions and civic organizations.
Martin said the administrator also needs a strong background in financial analysis and an ability to work a budget effectively, areas in which Martin added Jones is “particularly strong.”
During the work session Monday, Chapman said “it just dawned on me” that he was the only commissioner on the board when the current contract was signed.
“At the very least, we should go through some sort of process, some job description with the interest of doing a new contract.”
Jones’ removal was sought Nov. 24 by Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis over him submitting “ridiculous revenue projections” for 2016, she said.
Barkhuis also accused him of “(ab)using his authority to harass me, retaliate against me, and otherwise intrude on my office as County Treasurer.”
He responded that he made the revenue projections at the request of the commissioners and accused her of not wanting to work “corroboratively.”
No evidence
In another action spurred by Barkhuis, the Sheriff’s Office found no evidence that Jones broke the law when he told commissioners the county could loan money to the city of Port Angeles.
Barkhuis had alleged June 30 that Jones lied about the county’s ability to loan the city $7.75 million for its landfill bluff-stabilization project.
Jones called the allegation “completely false.”
In the interview after Monday’s work session, Chapman said he wanted to be “forward looking” and not focus on the past.
“I’m comfortable with the direction the board is headed. I want [Jones] to know what the current board wants of him and want the current board to be signed on to the contract.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
