Pierce County is investigating six complaints against Assessor-Treasurer Dale Washam that claim he has abused his authority and wasted public money.
The county’s human resources department notified Washam of the complaints three weeks ago. The notice states the employees have accused Washam of violations of unspecified state, federal and local laws.
The latest complaints follow two others accusing the assessor-treasurer of discrimination, retaliation and unfair labor practices.
Mary Ann Brennan, public sector coordinator for the Teamsters Local Union 117, which represents most assessor-treasurer employees, would not discuss the specifics of the latest complaints. But she said they address deteriorating working conditions under Washam.
“Happy employees don’t contact their union, generally,” Brennan said. “It’s difficult for them to do their jobs.”
Washam has repeatedly denied the employee accusations. He contends the complaints are the result of an effort by the union representing his employees to solicit complaints to discredit him.
“This is no less, no more than a conspiracy to file a whole lot of complaints against me,” Washam said in an interview this week.
The new complaints are the latest chapter in a drama that has consumed the assessor-treasurer’s office for months.
In March, Washam announced that under his predecessor – Ken Madsen – the office skipped hundreds of thousands of property inspections required by state law. The inspections are used to help determine property values for tax purposes.
Since then Washam has tried in vain to have state and local officials investigate his charges. He claims assessor-treasurer employees falsified inspection records and other documents to cover up the skipped inspections.
At the same time, employees have accused Washam of breaking the law and creating a hostile work environment.
Administrative officer Sally Barnes accused Washam of discriminating against her because of her age and gender and retaliating against her for complaining about religious references he made at the office.
In August a private attorney hired by the county found insufficient evidence of discrimination. But the attorney found Washam retaliated against Barnes by, among other things, revoking her job responsibilities and moving her to a remote office.
Last month the Teamsters Local Union 117 filed an unfair labor practices complaint against Washam with the state Public Employment Relations Commission. Among other things, the complaint claims Washam failed to bargain changes to work schedules and other working conditions.
The commission recently issued a preliminary ruling that stated that, if the facts alleged in the complaint are true, “it appears that unfair labor practice violations could be found.”
The commission gave Pierce County and Washam 21 days to respond, though it declined to grant the union’s request for temporary relief.
Now the county has received six whistleblower complaints against Washam, county labor relations manager Joe Carrillo said.
The county has not released the details of the complaints. The notice sent to Washam cites unspecified violations of state or federal law or county code. It also cites abuse of Washam’s authority and gross waste of public funds.
The county has contracted with another investigator to examine their merits of the whistleblower complaints.
Washam claims the Teamsters union is soliciting complaints against him as part of an effort to protect supervisors who are resisting the organizational changes he thinks are needed to run the office more efficiently.
He cited a recent e-mail from a union representative that included a blank whistleblower complaint form. The e-mail summarized an Aug. 13 employee meeting at which Brennan reported on the unfair labor practices complaint.
The e-mail quotes Brennan as saying the complaint, “combined with individual employee complaints of improper treatment from Mr. Washam” and the Barnes complaint “should be enough ‘evidence’ to initiate county action to correct Mr. Washam.”
She also “strongly encouraged members who had complaints regarding their treatment by Mr. Washam to file complaints with HR. She indicated that it was the sheer number of these complaints that would have most effect in prompting HR to action,” the e-mail states.
“That’s conspiring to abuse the process,” Washam said. “It’s unconscionable.”
Washam said taxpayers will pay to investigate the latest complaints against him. The county spent $18,000 to investigate Barnes’ complaint.
Brennan said employees are following the proper process for expressing their concerns about Washam’s behavior. She said the union is just protecting its members.
“Our job is to represent our members. They come to us. That’s what we do,” Brennan said. “We have that right. It’s not a witch hunt.”
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
david.wickert@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
