Board of County Commissioners - workshop

All right, good morning. Welcome to the Thurston County Board of County Commissioners agenda setting work session for Tuesday, July 21st, 2026. It's 9.04 a.m. My name is Ty Mentor, Chair of the Board. Right here to my left is Vice Chair Commissioner Fournier, Commissioner Grant, Commissioners Klaus and Mejia online, and County Manager Leonard Hernandez, Assistant County Manager Josh Cummings, Jennifer Walker, and Clerk of the Board Amy Davis. Meeting is live streamed to the Thurston County YouTube channel and public comment A written public comment may be received up to two hours in advance of the meeting and distributed to the board. Action may be taken at this meeting. First up this morning is to do a final review of this afternoon's business agenda. Madam Clerk, were there any follow-up items?

Yes, just a few. First, I'd like to touch on the presentation scheduled for this afternoon. As a reminder, we have two presentations. The first is for the Houston County Fair Proclamation. Again, we'll be joined by some good friends outside and we invite all commissioners down for a photo at 1 45 p.m. So the animals will be here before then if you'd like to go down earlier but 1 45 p.m. You have to have a group photo is what you're saying? A group photo.

Okay.

On the stairs. With the animals outside. I'm in a building code council work session that I'm actually leaving early to do the meeting so I can't really I can leave it early to chair the meeting, but I don't think I can leave it early to stand with some animals for picture. So in my priority list, I won't be the picture. So don't wait for me. You guys can take it. Thank you for that. That's fine. Yeah, it's happened. The Jazz Comp Cup. I got photoshopped in with Commissioner Edwards and Hutchins.

Regarding presentations, I don't want to So we did that proclamation and Keith Phillips wants to come tomorrow and say, thank you. And tomorrow, tomorrow. So it'd be nice if we could just make a little bit of time for him. Not necessarily. I don't, you know, we can leave him in public comment, but I'd rather like, maybe give him two, three minutes at the beginning of the agenda to come up and he'll probably, I don't know, sometimes he does kooky things, you know, maybe he'll show up with bagpipes, I don't know. But he's just, if we could just make space, just give him some time to do whatever he wants to come and do and say thank you.

Tomorrow, but do you mean today? Today, yes, today. Oh, you said tomorrow.

Today is tomorrow, if it was yesterday. I'm with you now.

Got it.

Yeah, thanks for reminding me. You flagged this and I was, yeah, I was thinking of maybe just at the end, well, maybe before at the front end of the proclamation section, we'll just, I could just highlight that we did this proclamation was done. If you could have a copy for me or Commissioner Forna, whoever, someone we could flag that it was done and then call Keith forward just right there. If he shows up, he may forgive us. As an audible at the front end of presentations. Does that make sense? Okay. Okay, so that's the one for the fair and then achievement awards. We are going to take a break there.

So we'll jump straight from the fair proclamation speakers. The county manager will provide an introduction to the NACO awards and then ask for a recess. And we will step outside into the atrium area for the actual NACO awards presentation.

Okay, cool.

Any questions for Amy on these two?

Okay. The next note on Department Item 7, Item 1, for the Commissioner's Office. This is for the Special Amendment 1. The item was finalized. The resolution was emailed out to you all. Is there any questions on that item?

You're on Item 7.

got together. The Prosecuting Attorney Civil Division was still reviewing the documentation that was completed just after the meeting and I believe Amy distributed it.

That was a placeholder on the last one. There was something that we moved. I think it was item 8-1?

8-3, which is the Veterans RFP. Oh, yeah. And so that was moved from the consent agenda to department items. Okay.

Those are the only items. Any questions from the board on this afternoon's agenda? Item two this morning, or three actually, is advisory boards.

Here's one application for your review this morning. It's for Samantha Birch for the Fair Board. SAMANTHA HAS BEEN INTERVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED FOR APPOINTMENT BY THE FAIR BOARD. AND IF APPOINTED, WE WOULD HAVE A FULL FAIR BOARD.

AWESOME. THEY WERE OUT THERE AT THE PARADE ON SATURDAY DROPPING WHAT THEY DROP AND CLEANING IT RIGHT BACK UP. IT WAS ALWAYS FUN TO SEE THEM OUT THERE. AND FAIR BOARD MEMBERS WERE THERE DOING THAT. SO I APPRECIATE THEIR EFFORT. Okay, so do we just, is this one we're just, they've approved and you're asking us to approve?

Yes, if there's direction to proceed with appointment, then this purchase could be added to the next business meeting agenda.

Anyone want more time? Do we want to go ahead and thumbs this up? Okay, I see two thumbs up. I see five thumbs up. So we go ahead and put this on for the next meeting, which is? August 5th. August 5th, perfect. All right. All fair board. That's it on that one. Commissioner committees, reports on committees, I guess this is bumped from tomorrow since we're not having, so if there's any external reports on boards, now's the time.

Let me just look really quick.

talked about the economic development district at study, but we were all there. So we need to report.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Had a, had a steady meeting on Friday where we heard from the economic development district and then, uh, had a meeting with the flood authority where we continue to review, uh, local project applications. And, uh, those are the two, the two big ones.

Any other commissioners with an external committee report? Things kind of break in summer a little bit, so it's pretty normal. The next two items are letters that I kind of highlighted last week, just as a heads up. And then I think they were circulated for folks to look at. The first one was to the Department of Natural Resources. The idea was that there was more money allocated for swapping lands, which keeps beneficiaries whole. DNR will decide what lands, but counties have the opportunity to kind of weigh in. So this was a proposal for two areas that are significant in Cabell State Forest that we could ask DNR to think about. And so that's the first letter. Um, is there any, was there any questions or questions?

There's a proposed motion if, uh, uh, moved to approve the letter to the department of natural resources regarding Waddell headquarters and McLean, McLean Creek parcels and authorized the clerk of the board to utilize electronic signatures and second motion and second to approve the letter to DNR discussion.

All for the vote, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. The second one, which is item three, was a proposed letter to Thurston Regional Planning Council regarding rural transit program. This is their base funding. Amy Hatchwinica, who directs that program, asked for board support. We've given it in the past, and this was the proposed letter. And was there any questions or concerns about it? I have no questions.

I'll make a motion to approve the letter of support to the TRPC for continued funding for support TO SUPPORT THE RURAL TRANSIT PROGRAM AND AUTHORIZE CLERK OF THE BOARD TO UTILIZE ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES.

SECOND.

MOTION AND SECOND TO APPROVE THE LETTER OF SUPPORT TO TRPC FOR RURAL TRANSIT. ANY DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION? CALL FOR THE VOTE. ALL IN FAVOR SAY AYE. AYE. AYE. AYE. OKAY. THAT'S THE END OF THE AGENDA. ARE THERE ANY OTHER COMMISSIONER ITEMS? I DO.

I HAVE A COMMISSIONER ITEM. I HAVE A STATEMENT AND THEN I'M GOING TO GIVE THIS OUT JUST SO YOU GUYS CAN HAVE A COPY. AND I JUST SENT YOU AN EMAIL FROM THE SO OVER THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS, I PERSONALLY HAVE HAD CONVERSATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS WITH 19 CURRENT AND FORMER PUBLIC HEALTH EMPLOYEES, INCLUDING SEVERAL MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM. THESE CONVERSATIONS HAVE COME FROM PEOPLE across the organization at different levels and in different parts of the department. Many of them don't know each other, yet they have described many of the same concerns. I've also spoken with some employees who came to work for the county. They reached out to me and then they left within a few months of being hired. Every time we recruit, hire, onboard, and train someone only to lose them because of a work environment, it costs taxpayers money and it makes it harder to provide the services our community depends on. But this really isn't about turnover. It's about our people. And I want to be clear, I'm not standing here saying that anyone is guilty of anything. That's not my role. And that's exactly why I'm asking for an independent review. What concerns me the most isn't even that there are complaints themselves. It's just that there are so many employees who have told me that they're afraid to speak up because they fear retaliation or losing their jobs. And when our employees don't feel safe coming forward, then we have to take it seriously. Whether those fears are ultimately justified isn't what we're voting on today. What we're voting on is whether our employees deserve a process that they can trust. Our staff have to be our priority. They are people who show up every day to serve this community and they deserve to know their concerns will be heard through a fair and independent process. I'm not asking the board to determine whether anyone has done anything wrong. I'm asking us to make sure that facts are gathered by someone who's truly independent. An independent review protects everyone. It protects the employees by giving them a safe space to speak honestly. It protects our leadership by ensuring that any findings are based on facts and not rumors. And it gives the board an objective understanding of what's really happening. If we say our employees are our greatest asset, then we have to prove it. We have to be willing to listen to what people are asking to be heard. And I believe we owe that to our employees. And I believe we owe it to the public. And for that reason, I'm making the following motion. And I gave a copy to everyone and sent a copy to Emily and sent a copy to Carolina. I MOVE THAT THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS DIRECT STAFF TO RETURN TO THE BOARD WITHIN 14 DAYS WITH ONE, A PROPOSED SCOPE OF WORK FOR AN INDEPENDENT THIRD PARTY REVIEW OF WORKPLACE CULTURE, LEADERSHIP, EMPLOYEE RETENTION, AND CONCERNS REGARDING RETALIATION WITHIN PUBLIC HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES. TWO, A COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT PROCESS FOR SELECTING THE INDEPENDENT REVIEWER. THREE, A REQUIREMENT THAT THE BOARD APPROVE BOTH THE FINAL SCOPE OF WORK AND THE SELECTION OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEWER BEFORE THE CONTRACT IS EXECUTED. Four, a requirement that the reviewer report findings and recommendations directly to the Board of County Commissioners. And five, a process that provides confidential opportunities for current and former employees to participate in the review consistent with applicable law.

I just need a second.

I'm sorry, Commissioner Claus, that was a second? Yes. Okay, Commissioner Mejia.

Thank you. I'm concerned about the process on how this was brought. This was not shared beforehand, but the meeting. And so I haven't had a chance to review the documents that Commissioner Grant is providing. I know also that I would like to hear from Human Resources and the County Manager because I know they're doing a lot of work. So the fact that it's not even gone up to a discussion yet or having that conversation piece is is where I'm concerned. I'm not I am not opposed to the objective but it's just the process and how this was brought up and then put forward. DIRECTOR DEWOLF.

Other discussion on the motion Commissioner Grant.

Sure, you know, I definitely think that HR has an important role, but, and we've been, you know, the process so far has been, you know, that we've met and talked about this and that HR has been informed and HR has been doing an investigation as well. It's just that the employees are telling me that they don't have confidence in the current process And that, you know, it really isn't about a criticism of HR at all. It's just a recognition that employees are worried about the confidentiality of the process and that they're, you know, that they want to feel like they can trust whoever they're talking to.

Commissioners, after... chatting with our Prosecuting Attorney Civil Division, I think some of this conversation should take place in an executive session. Again, to Commissioner Mejia's point, I have not received or reviewed this material, and the HR Director hasn't received or reviewed this material, so we're not prepared to talk about it today at this moment, but I do think there's some things that we need to be sensitive of communicating an open session as it relates to complaints and HR process, et cetera. Commissioner Klaus.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, I can agree with the county manager about the sensitivity of this item and needing an executive session for it. I also want to just speak a little bit to the process piece. I know I've talked about an executive session and I've asked about how to go about adding this. And it's been several weeks since that conversation. So, Commissioner Mensah, if you don't remember that, it's probably because it's been a while. We've received complaints for a while now. So, in terms of the process, I would like to know, Can we put this on for an executive session soon? Because I do think that this needs to be discussed in detail. And we have had executive sessions about recent issues you know, just not necessarily specific complaints, but just to talk about these processes. And I would like to see something happen where we can get, um, a better understanding of what's happening. And so I'm in support of the, um, intent behind this motion. And I'd like to know when we could get this on the calendar for, um, an executive sessions.

Um, Yeah, I think in an executive session would be appropriate. I can't take action on something that was just thrown on the table right now. You know, I know that some of these things have been, you know, some of this was kind of brought to my attention a little over a month ago by another commissioner, and I did some requests and gathered some information. It's hard to discern the difference between, you know, like, you know, I hear Commissioner Grant saying that this needs to be objective, but you know, the commissioners themselves are political animals. So there needs to be an effort to separate politics from actual process because I have actually seen, you know, what looks like some commissioners soliciting complaints and fishing for them. And that concerns me. I think that should be looked at. And then, you know, when I did a request of, you know, the complaints that have actually been brought into HR, some of those were actually about commissioners and not necessarily staff. So I think that there's a lot of things that need to be unpacked that absolutely need to be discussed in executive session. And I can't take action on something at this time. And, you know, I think, you know, this is all in HR's wheelhouse until it involves complaints about ELECTED OFFICIALS, WHICH THERE IS SOME OF THAT IN THIS MIX AS WELL.

WELL, YEAH, AND I DEFINITELY WOULD AGREE THAT AN EXECUTIVE SESSION IS SOMETHING THAT WE SHOULD DO, YOU KNOW, THAT PERSONAL SPECIFIC INFORMATION SHOULD BE LEGALLY, LIKE, PROTECTED AND HANDLED APPROPRIATELY. YOU KNOW, BUT THIS IS, THIS DECISION IS ABOUT WHETHER THE BOARD WILL AUTHORIZE AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW. You know, I just feel like, you know, I'm sorry that I brought it just today and I brought it this way, but I really needed to just be able to have the public hear that I'm hearing them and that they deserve to know where each of us stand on moving forward with an independent investigation. The vote's not about finding anything, like, against anyone. It's about whether the decision about whether our employees deserve a process that they can trust. I THINK HAVING AN EXECUTIVE DECISION OR EXECUTIVE SESSION IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA IF WE WANT TO TALK MORE FREELY ABOUT SPECIFIC INFORMATION. YOU KNOW, I HAD A PRETTY BIG CONCERN ABOUT AN EMAIL GOING OUT LAST WEEK TO THE FULL BOARD THAT WAS SOMEBODY'S PRIVATE INFORMATION, YOU KNOW, AND THAT KIND OF THREW ME OFF. AND SO, YOU KNOW, I JUST WANTED TO BRING THIS TODAY. I REALLY JUST FEEL LIKE WE NEED TO MOVE FORWARD ON AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION SO THAT THE STAFF AND THE EMPLOYEES FEEL that they're being heard. I mean, we really, we regularly are saying that our staff is our biggest resource and we have an opportunity to really show them today that we actually mean it. And that's why I brought this forward.

So for me, I probably will support what the direction here. I just, I kind of agree with Commissioner Mejia. Like I, I don't, I'd like input from HR. I'd like to know, like, I need to know what's been done and where it stands. Executive session, Commissioner Claus is talking about the County Manager. I think makes more sense before I would be comfortable. So I would like to just sort of table this idea until we can do. And then I'm looking to the county manager. Several commissioners asked about an executive session. How quickly could we do that?

In my update to the board on this topic, I did reference that we are working on an executive session. And so this week was too soon. HR needed a little bit more time. I will say that HR has been hard at work. responding and looking into every complaint that has come through. And so since we first heard of the issues coming through, they look at every single complaint that comes through. So I think it's important that the board will take some time. And after Maria and I sought the PAO's legal perspective, and there is some caution, I think, that we will now probably ask for them to attend. to bring in based on how this is being handled. We just want to make sure that we're being very mindful of that, but I think we can get to an executive session next week. Okay.

I'd be willing to withdraw this motion if I know that we're having an executive session next week, but then we could revisit the motion after the executive session next week. Is that sound okay?

Okay. Let me get to her. Yeah.

Thank you. No, I was just going to be in support of tabling this until we've had that session. I think it's important that we have, and then that will also give at least me time to review the documents that Commissioner Grant has given us today.

Okay. Sounds good. I was wrong. Sounds like we have a plan forward.

Were there other documents that were handed out? No. No, I just sent that.

Other Commissioner items? Commissioner Koss?

Yeah, I just want to say I'm in support of tabling this item, and that would require a motion if we're going to officially table it. So I move to table this item until after an executive session takes place about this matter next week.

I think it's unnecessary to withdraw it. I withdrew it, Emily. I withdraw the motion.

Okay, but if we wanted to table it for next week and make sure that that's something that we're required to do, then we would need to table the motion, or we could just... Agreed to do it next week, but by tabling it until after an executive session next week, that makes it officially have to be on the agenda.

And I guess we don't usually get too technical with Robert's Rules, but once a motion's been seconded and you have to withdraw it, the second person has to agree.

Yeah, tabling's fine. I just want to make sure that tabling is, I don't, yeah.

Commissioner Grant walked in and put it on the table today. She can walk in and put it on the table next week. We're not that formal. I wouldn't be opposed to being more formal like that to where we couldn't just walk in and throw something down on the table, but that's just not the way we are. So there's nothing that prohibits her from next week from doing the same thing.

And I guess the one thing, Emily, I would say is that I thought that when we table something that it could be tabled indefinitely, and that's one of my concerns about the tabling.

Yeah, there's some nuances with motions to table, and I haven't dealt with them in a long time, so I don't want to go there.

Yeah, so that's why I'd rather withdraw and then bring it back, and I will plan to bring it back.

Okay, if that's what you want to do, that's okay. I would support that too, but yeah, I do think that it's where we're picking and choosing when we want to be formal on certain things. And a lot of times we are stopped from doing things because the process wasn't followed. So I think if we're going to be that way, then we should be that way about everything.

I try to only be formal when I have to, but, um, it's a different topic. Um, so it sounds like commissioner grant has withdrawn. Cause your class agrees with that and we'll revisit this next week.

Any other? Yeah, I think if you table it, I'm just going back, like it puts it on, but then you it would require a vote to take it off the table.

Yeah.

And that would require a majority of the board. So if you want it, easy peasy, right? Don't put it on that table and require a vote later, you might not get those votes.

Yeah, that's nobody said they wanted it easy peasy. So I just want things to be done properly.