PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is investigating a whistle-blower’s allegations of employee misconduct in the road department.
County Administrator Jim Jones said the allegations, brought to county officials by a road department employee last month, are not criminal in nature.
He said the matter will likely be handled in-house.
“I have no reason to believe anything rises to the level of an actual crime or a theft,” Jones said Thursday. “There’s none of that kind of stuff.”
Teamsters Local 589 business representative Dan Taylor sent a Jan. 26 memo to road department employees saying the allegations were unproven.
“The county will soon start an investigation of multiple allegations, which I understand may include improper dumping of hazardous materials, theft of county property, theft of county time in the form of time spent on personal matters while on paid time, failure to wear protective equipment, and failure to provide proper notice of random drug tests,” the memo stated.
“If you have engaged or are engaging in any of the above activity, the union urges you to stop it immediately.”
Taylor advised workers who may have engaged in such conduct to consider consulting an attorney before being interviewed by the county.
Copies of the memo were delivered anonymously to the Peninsula Daily News on two occasions within the past week.
Taylor declined to comment Friday, citing a longstanding policy of refraining from speaking to the media.
Said Jones: “He was just indicating [in the letter] that we had a whistle-blower complaint from one employee who was alleging that he had noticed other employees doing things that were violations of policy, that were not in keeping with our cleanup standards and things like that.”
“We hired an investigator to interview everybody,” Jones added. “She finished her investigation on Friday as to the veracity of the claims.
“So we’re waiting on that to come back to decide what we’re going to do.”
At this point, Jones said, the allegations are being handled privately by the human resources department.
Clallam County has hired the same human resources investigator for past employee disputes, Jones said.
“If it’s just a minor disciplinary issue, we’ll take care of it in-house,” he said.
Jones said the whistle-blower’s identity is protected under federal and state law.
County Engineer Ross Tyler, who oversees the road department, declined to discuss the allegations.
He said the union memo is “standard operating procedure” for when there is an internal investigation.
“Until it becomes public information, I’d better keep my mouth shut,” Tyler said.
“I can tell you, in my opinion, it isn’t a big public issue.”
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
