PORT ANGELES — A whistle-blower’s allegations of employee misconduct in the Clallam County road department have been discredited by an internal investigation, County Administrator Jim Jones said in a memo.
The whistle-blower came forward in January with multiple allegations of improper dumping of hazardous materials, theft of county property, misuse of county time, failure to wear protective equipment and failure to provide proper notice of random drug tests.
“To sum up, a thorough investigation of all allegations was conducted,” Jones wrote.
“No criminal acts were substantiated. Where appropriate, remedial training and/or disciplinary actions will occur.”
C. Akin Blitz of Bullard Smith Jernstedt Wilson conducted the investigation for the county, which hired the firm.
The unnamed whistle-blower alleged that seven retaliatory acts were committed against him by co-workers and supervisors after he presented in a 2009 supervisor’s meeting a list of traffic safety violations that be believed some of his co-workers had made over a period of several years.
He also alleged nine specific events or improprieties that caused a loss of morale or loss of respect for the road shop supervisor.
The whistle-blower also alleged five instances of improper dumping of hazardous materials by the crew.
Citing attorney-client privilege, Jones said the final report is confidential.
According to an executive summary that Jones provided, the investigation found:
— All seven alleged retaliatory acts were found to have no basis in fact or were the result of others being upset at the alleged victim for his own unrelated behavior.
The investigation found no justification for a claim against the county.
— Many of the nine events or improprieties that caused a loss of morale were found to be substantially true.
“These pointed to a lack of adequate supervision, favoritism and failure to appropriately follow up on complaints by the supervisor,” the summary said.
— Three of the five allegations of improper dumping of hazardous materials were unsubstantiated because there were no hazardous materials involved.
There was one instance of diesel mixed with asphalt emulsion dumped into a county pit and cleaned up, and one instance of paint thinner used to clean the tank and nozzles on a striping truck.
“Again, this was not an illegal dumping, but a controlled cleaning of the jets that resulted in a relatively small amount of Toluene [paint thinner] which was ejected while attempting to clean plugged spray tubes,” the summary said.
Crews cleaned up the site according to recommendations from the state Department of Ecology.
“Our lawyers determined that though factually wrong with respect to retaliation aspects of the complaint, the complaint was nevertheless made in good faith,” Jones wrote in the memo.
“There has been no retaliation; we will confirm in a summary letter to the employee the overall determinations and the actions that the County will take moving forward, and we will reaffirm the County’s policies prohibiting retaliation of any kind in the workplace.”
County Engineer Ross Tyler, who oversees the road department, said he was “pretty certain that this was going to be the result” of the investigation.
“I think that it’s always important for the public to feel, to the extend that they are able, that our county government is as transparent as possible,” Tyler said.
“And even though allegations like this sting a lot of people, they’re worth looking at. There nothing that isn’t worth looking at.”
Tyler said the investigation has led to minor changes in the road department, such as having laminated cards with information on how to handle oil spills available to all crew members.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
