PORT ANGELES — County Treasurer Selinda Barkhuis told Clallam County Democrats she is working to see County Administrator Jim Jones ousted.
She hopes to see a new majority of the county commissioners “do the deed,” she told a meeting of the Democrats on Wednesday night.
Barkhuis discussed her multi-year dispute with Jones and the three commissioners.
She said she was “optimistic” that things are finally headed in the right direction.
“My problem with the commissioners is the county administrator,” Barkhuis said at the Democratic Party headquarters in Port Angeles.
“As long as he’s there, I guess I’m going to have to talk about it.”
Barkhuis lambasted Jones for a series of actions dating back to September 2013.
“I would love to never talk about the county administrator again, but as long as he shows up every single day and sits there and wastes taxpayer monies and puts out stuff that he shouldn’t, I have no choice but to point out that I think he ought to go,” Barkhuis said.
“And until we have two commissioners who are willing to do the deed, I will continue to talk about it.”
Jones, the county’s chief executive, answers to the commissioners.
“I serve at the complete pleasure of the majority of the board of county commissioners,” Jones said in a Thursday interview.
“If a majority of the board decides my efforts are no longer appreciated, I will be removed.”
Ron Richards
Barkhuis said she is hopeful that first-year Commissioner Mark Ozias and commissioner candidate Ron Richards, both Democrats, would remove Jones from his appointed office.
“I’m really going to focus this summer on getting Ron Richards elected because I think that is my best bet to change things around,” Barkhuis told about 30 meeting attendees.
“All that has to happen is for two commissioners on Tuesday to go, ‘We are terminating this contract.’
“It is that simple.”
Barkhuis criticized Jones for a $7.75 million proposed county loan to the city of Port Angeles for a landfill project in September 2013.
At the time, Barkhuis had requested another full-time equivalent, or FTE, in her office to help implement internal controls to safeguard public funds that were lost under her predecessor’s watch.
“He said, ‘Well, if you want an FTE, then you will approve this loan,’ ” Barkhuis alleged.
Jones emphatically denied the allegation, saying he had a witness to the conversation.
“It was not in any way, shape or form tit for tat,” Jones said.
Barkhuis said Jones “butchered” an attorney general’s opinion to claim that the loan was legal and had told commissioners it was their sole discretion to make the loan.
Jones said Barkhuis combined unrelated statements and misinterpreted his analysis of the AG opinion.
Furthermore, the state Auditor’s Office and county sheriff found no merit to Barkhuis’ claim of a felony charge, Jones said.
Barkhuis said the loan to the city would have been “unlawful and unwise.”
She said the county needed to retain liquid assets in reserve to respond to a natural disaster like an earthquake or a public health emergency.
“The buck stops with me,” she said.
Opportunity Fund
Last year, Barkhuis refused to disburse $1.3 million in commissioner-approved Opportunity Fund grants to the city and Port of Port Angeles for infrastructure projects.
She cited an insufficient public process and the absence of written contracts with the municipalities.
After a five-month dispute with last year’s board, Barkhuis released the warrants and took a medical leave of absence in September.
“An incredible amount of public time and resources were spent achieving the disbursement of $1.3 million in reserve funds in total defiance of statutes that require process for budget appropriation and for written contracts,” Barkhuis said.
“These rules are there for accountability and transparency so you know where the money went and why.”
Jones said that the grants were approved according to county policy and state law.
He added that every allegation that Barkhuis has made in the past five years has been investigated and found to have no merit.
Nothing new
Jones added that the treasurer’s call for his ouster is “nothing new.”
“She’s been saying it all along,” Jones said.
“What I would say is her command of the facts is tenuous at best, but worse than that, her analysis of even her bad facts is just atrocious.
“I would never stoop to her level and say that she is lying, as she has claimed on many occasions,” Jones added.
“I would say she is badly mistaken.”
Barkhuis and Jones agreed that their dispute has taken a toll on county government.
“We’ve had a great team of people at the county,” Jones said.
“The last year and a half has been pretty miserable, and it mostly is because she doesn’t want to be a part of the team.”
Said Barkhuis: “I get a lot of positive feedback, but I’m going to the courthouse and I’m being treated like absolute crap by, well, you know, certain people, and I don’t appreciate it.”
“And I don’t think he’s got the right,” Barkhuis said of Jones.
Barkhuis said she intends to call an executive session with commissioners in the coming weeks to make her case against Jones.
“I will discuss in detail the legal reasons why we really have to move this person on and how it’s really not in the commissioners’ best interest to be associated with somebody who has such a complete lack of credibility,” Barkhuis said.
Barkhuis said she has been “punished and harassed” over the past 2½ years.
Most recently, the county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed a lawsuit against Barkhuis on March 31 for her failure to comply with a public records request.
The complaint for declaratory relief and petition for writ of mandamus was subsequently dismissed with prejudice at the direction of Commissioners Ozias and Mike Chapman.
“Things have improved with our new commissioner,” Barkhuis said of Ozias.
“I am pleased to tell you here today that the new commissioner is working very hard, and he definitely has his heart in the right place and he has sat through lots of meetings. I am optimistic, actually, that things are going in the right direction.”
The third current commissioner is Forks-area Republican Bill Peach.
Richards is running to fill Chapman’s seat.
“I can’t image what Selinda has gone through in the last two years when the prosecutor, the sheriff, the county administrator and those two county commissioners had their sights dead-set on her,” Richards said during the question-and-answer period at the Clallam County Democrats meeting.
’Totally frivolous’
Richards described the lawsuit against Barkhuis as “totally frivolous.”
Chapman also attended the meeting and was asked to comment on Barkhuis.
“I think she’s done a great job,” Chapman said.
“She’s very careful with the taxpayer dollar, and the issues she raises she has consistently raised her whole political career, and I respect that.”
Chapman said he had proudly supported Barkhuis over the past year and a half.
He added in a Thursday email that he has no intention of voting to remove Jones during his remaining seven months in office.
“His future employment status, as always, will be determined by next year’s Board of Commissioners,” Chapman wrote.
Barkhuis opened her hourlong talk by leading the audience in the singing of “America the Beautiful.”
Barkhuis was elected county treasurer in 2010 and ran unopposed in 2014.
“The law is very important to me,” said Barkhuis, who has a law degree.
“My disagreement that I’ve had with the commissioners in the past can be summed up in the county administrator and his lack of respect of the law.”
Barkhuis said it is time for Jones to “exit the building” and time for commissioners to focus on more important issues like economic development, drug addiction and the environment.
Meanwhile, Barkhuis said she needs to focus on replacing three longtime staffers who will retire in the next two years with a combined 80 years of institutional knowledge.
“I’m tired of these histrionics,” Barkhuis said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
