PORT ANGELES — Clallam County commissioners today are expected to approve an agreement with an outside attorney to review public accusations that they have created a hostile and threatening work environment.
Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis has made such claims in multiple emails to county officials during the past year, most recently last Wednesday.
Board Chairman Mike Chapman said he welcomed an investigation.
“I think the board needs some defense here,” Chapman said in a Monday work session.
“The accusation is this board of commissioners continues to allow a threatening and hostile work environment to occur in the county, which I vehemently deny. At some point, I don’t think you can just stick your head in the sand and say nothing.”
No commissioner objected to the proposed agreement with Dale Kamerrer of Olympia-based Law, Lyman, Daniel, Kamerrer & Bogdanovich, P.S., who has worked on behalf of the county in the past.
The form and substance of Kamerrer’s advice has not been determined.
Past allegations that commissioners fostered a hostile work environment were reported to the Washington Counties Risk Pool.
No legal claim or lawsuit has been filed, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Nichols said in a Monday interview.
Peach in Olympia
The agreement was added to today’s meeting agenda because Commissioner Bill Peach has a commitment in Olympia next Tuesday.
“There’s no reason to wait a week,” Chapman said. “This is a potential investigation of the board’s actions. I do not want to hold it up.”
Nichols recommended the agreement to avoid a conflict of interest. The county prosecutor represents commissioners and other elected officials.
If the agreement is signed, Nichols will deputize Kamerrer to work as a special prosecutor in matters relating to the “really bad dispute” in county government, Nichols said.
“I don’t think we’re creating a threatening and hostile work environment, quite honestly,” Chapman said.
“If we’re creating a hostile work environment, or threats against other people, we need to know and stop it.”
Meeting off
Barkhuis, who chairs a finance committee made up of members of her office, the auditor’s office and commissioners’ office, announced in a Wednesday email to commissioners that she was canceling a key March 10 meeting of that committee.
The purpose of the meeting was to vet major projects, including the $12.1 million Carlsborg sewer project. Bids for the sewer will be opened next Tuesday.
Commissioners also are considering a $731,705 Opportunity Fund grant to the shuttered Sequim Aquatic Recreation Center for a new air-handling and domestic water and wastewater system that is key to the athletic facility’s reopening.
The cancelation of the finance committee meeting could delay these projects, Chapman said.
Projects and spending from the sales tax-supported Opportunity Fund and Carlsborg Sewer Fund are being managed by County Administrator Jim Jones and Public Works Administrative Director Bob Martin, Barkhuis wrote in her memo.
‘Vetting’
“To the extent that the commissioners believe that the numbers being provided by their own staff require ‘vetting,’ my advice to the commissioners would be to thoroughly review and adjust their own staff and fund management practices,” said Barkhuis, who has blasted Jones for his actions in recent years.
“In the meantime, it is the commissioners’ own office that has acted on a number of occasions to intimidate me into silence and retaliate against me for speaking up about, among other things, the very issues that Commissioner Chapman now wants me to ‘vet.’ These acts of intimidation and retaliation remain unresolved and unabated, and continue to detrimentally impact my health.”
Barkhuis said she was taking a leave of absence for undisclosed health reasons through March 14.
“Until such time as the commissioners have adequately addressed and resolved their own staff and fund management issues, I will refrain from putting myself in situations, including chairing the finance committee meetings, that are likely to provoke further acts of intimidation and retaliation against me,” Barkhuis said.
A medical leave of absence that Barkhuis began in September ended a four-month stalemate with the board over the release of $1.3 million in Opportunity Fund grants to the city and Port of Port Angeles for infrastructure projects.
Major decisions
To avoid a similar feud and to improve working relationships among the county leadership, Chapman has vowed to involve Barkhuis and other elected officials and department heads in major budget decisions.
“It is in our citizens’ best interests to have the commissioners, auditor’s and Treasurer’s Office work together before new major spending is approved,” Chapman wrote in his reply to Barkhuis.
Chapman said he was “disappointed” that the quarterly finance committee meeting was canceled. He said he hoped that Barkhuis, Auditor Shoona Riggs and Commissioner Mark Ozias would reschedule the meeting soon after Barkhuis returns to work.
“There are a number of county financial policies that need to be considered by the finance committee,” Chapman wrote.
“The state of the county finances overall should be reviewed as well, both expenditures as reported by the Auditor’s Office and revenues/investments as reported by the Treasurer’s Office.”
On the record
Chapman told Ozias and Peach that he replied to Barkhuis to put his position on the record.
“As one commissioner, I will not vote to approve the awarding of a contract for the Carlsborg sewer project or the SARC project until such time as the county Finance Committee and their appropriate staff members have met to review the financial documents surrounding these projects and a recommendation to move forward is approved by a majority vote,” Chapman said in his reply to the second-term treasurer.
“In addition, all necessary public hearings must be held and proper contracts drafted and approved before the awarding of any public funds. All of these checks and balances are necessary and supported by the public.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
