Pierce County emails offer glimpse behind the scenes of Juvenile Court upheaval
The abrupt departure of Pierce County Juvenile Court’s longtime administrator earlier this year came after Superior Court leadership determined a “change in direction” was necessary, according to public records obtained by The News Tribune.
Pierce County court officials have so far refused to publicly explain the reasons behind the resignation of TJ Bohl, who since 2013 had overseen non-judicial operations at the county’s juvenile detention center, Remann Hall. Two days after Bohl’s mid-April departure, the Juvenile Court’s probation manager, Kevin Williams, followed him out the door and resigned.
Through a public records request, The News Tribune acquired emails sent among some county employees in the days before and after the shakeup. They offer some information about what was happening behind the scenes.
Bohl’s departure created “deep concern” for the chair of the County Council, Jani Hitchen, emails show. She and other county employees worried about potential disruptions to Juvenile Court’s work. Bohl was part of the Washington Association of Juvenile Court Administrators’ Executive Committee, and he chaired the steering committee of the state’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative, among other leadership positions.
The change up also caught researchers supporting the court’s probation-reform efforts by surprise and led some county employees to email each other, “OMG,” and, “Did you see this?!”
Emails show that Bohl’s separation came down to a lose-lose situation for him. It was either resign or be fired. The big question is why Bohl was forced out and under what circumstances. He did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Drafts of communication plans about the leadership change showed a vague explanation: “After careful consideration of the Court’s current priorities, operational goals, and future needs, we determined that a change in direction was necessary.”
The statement court executive Chris Gaddis drafted for staff and Remann Hall employees to go out April 15 also acknowledged that there had been “significant change” in the past several weeks. He said times of transition could be challenging and that he understood they might bring uncertainty.
The next morning there was an all-staff meeting in Remann Hall’s cafeteria. According to meeting notes, it was attended by Gaddis, Presiding Superior Court Judge Susan Adams, Presiding Juvenile Court Judge Jennifer Andrews, Superior Court Judge Clarence Henderson Jr. and Bohl’s interim replacement, Kevin Stock, who served as the Superior Court clerk from 2003 to 2021.
Adams explained at the start of the meeting that Bohl’s departure was an at-will separation — i.e. a firing — so they could not discuss details or reasons for why he was leaving. Since then, Gaddis has told The News Tribune that Bohl resigned effective April 16.
Later on in the meeting, a staffer asked what Gaddis’ email meant by a change in direction. The answer provided, the meeting notes said, had to do with Superior Court’s leadership structure.
A little more than a month before Bohl left, the Superior Court implemented a new management structure that appears to have given Gaddis greater control of the Juvenile Court. The court announced the changes Feb. 24 and said they were designed to “unify leadership, streamline operations and enhance service to the community” by more effectively linking the County-City Building — where Superior Court operations occur in downtown Tacoma — and Remann Hall in the city’s West End.
“This reorganization reinforces that we are one unified Superior Court,” Adams said in a news release. “By consolidating administrative oversight under a single Court Executive Officer, we strengthen consistency in decision-making, improve coordination, enhance accountability, and support effective long-term planning.”
Previously Gaddis was the Superior Court administrator, and Bohl was the Juvenile Court administrator. Under the new structure, Gaddis is the court executive officer in charge of both the Superior and Juvenile court’s non-judicial operations. He is to “work in concert” with two deputy court executives separately focused on Superior and Juvenile courts. Bohl was one of those deputy court executives. The other, focused on Superior Court, is Monica Schmuck.
The reorganization also was meant to provide more financial oversight by creating a court fiscal director charged with managing the courts’ combined $107 million 2026-2027 budget. Broken down, Juvenile Court’s budget is $55 million, the fourth-most expensive department funded by the county’s general fund. It is budgeted for 147 employees.
It’s unclear what Bohl and Williams’ annual salaries were before their resignations. Gaddis did not respond to an email asking for the figures, and The News Tribune has filed a public records request for the information. In 2023, Bohl’s annual pay was $171,511. Williams’ annual salary was $137,011 that year.
Making the changes meant altering the Superior Court’s local rules, which govern how the court is organized and how it operates. The changes took effect March 1, according to Gaddis, after a 30-day public comment period, and they required the approval of the entire Superior Court bench.
The new rules clarified that the Court Executive Officer has administrative control of all non-judicial activities of the Superior and Juvenile courts. It made the supervision of Juvenile Court employees the responsibility of the Court Executive Officer (they were previously an exception to that position’s supervisory duties). And it clarified that the Court Executive Officer was responsible for the preparation and administration of the Superior and Juvenile courts’ budget.
‘Very quick turnaround’
Emails obtained by The News Tribune suggest Bohl’s departure was not a carefully planned leadership transition but a sudden upheaval that was evolving until the last minute.
The morning before Bohl’s separation was announced, April 15, Gaddis notified a Human Resources specialist that the Superior Court was asking for Stock to take charge of Juvenile Court as the interim deputy court executive, and he hoped he could start the next morning. Gaddis said that had not been shared with many people, and it needed to stay that way until the news was shared that afternoon.
“I understand this is a very quick turnaround and we appreciate any help HR can give us,” Gaddis wrote.
The HR specialist said she would begin the re-hire process after 3:30 p.m. and asked for more information about when Bohl’s separation would occur. Even then it was unclear if Bohl would be fired or if he would choose to resign.
“The date will depend on TJ,” Gaddis said. “lf I separate him, the effective date will be end of day today. lf he chooses to resign, the last day on the payroll would be June 1, 2026.”
When Bohl’s separation was announced, Williams was attending a probation manager’s conference. Gaddis noted in an April 17 email to the Superior Court judges that Williams had asked for time off the next week, and he said he wasn’t sure when they could speak to him.
Judge Timothy Ashcraft responded and said the time off request felt strategic and that perhaps Williams had heard from Bohl. He said he was concerned about Williams’ access to their systems and anything on his laptop.
“Any way for us to lock him out of his laptop remotely until you can talk to him?” Ashcraft wrote. “Given our document issues, any changes/deletions to documents, again either on the system or locally, could be a problem.”
Meanwhile, some county employees exchanged gossip about the circumstances of Bohl’s separation or just expressed their surprise.
“I bet he was walked out … He probably had no idea it was coming,” one employee wrote in an email. Gaddis has confirmed that neither Bohl nor Williams was escorted out.
That week, University of Washington professors and a research coordinator with its CoLab for Community and Behavioral Health Policy were in the middle of planning a monthly coordination call with Juvenile Court regarding its Opportunity-Based Probation model.
Williams told the UW participants April 16 that Bohl had been separated and asked for some “patience and grace” while Juvenile Court navigated the transition.
“Oh my gosh, that is devastating news,” an assistant professor replied. “Absolutely understand and we’re happy to pivot and flex however the department needs us to. Let us know how we can help.”
County Council chair so far ‘pleased’ with Court Executive
Whether Juvenile Court would be able to minimize disruptions to its work with various organizations and participation in grants and studies it is part of was of clear concern to Hitchen.
In an April 16 email to Gaddis, Hitchen requested a meeting and sent him five questions about what the plans were to fulfill those commitments and communicate the leadership change to the public, nonprofits, providers and the Family Council within Juvenile Court.
“I am deeply concerned around the potential interruptions and disruptions to the ongoing work and the potential questions that my colleagues and I will face in community,” Hitchen wrote.
In emails and in a phone call June 18 to The News Tribune, Hitchen said she has so far been pleased with Gaddis and the team at Juvenile Court but that she continues to meet with them for updates.
A senior policy analyst for the County Council also had questions for Gaddis.
“I want to understand what the plan is around the regional and national work that TJ and Kevin were leading, and how they plan to continue that work,” the analyst wrote to Gaddis April 16. “We were part of several studies and initiatives that were happening because of their leadership in this space.”
New juvenile court leader to focus on tort claims, records
Part of the reason Stock was selected as Bohl’s interim successor is “records issues” and his experience as the court clerk, according to notes from the all-staff meeting. His primary focus was expected to be records management and torts claims.
That’s because of the huge number of legal claims Pierce County is facing over allegations of abuse within Remann Hall, mostly for alleged incidents that occurred before 2000. In January, County Executive Ryan Mello said during a County Council special study session that there were more than 100 claims totaling $280 million.
A spokesperson for the county has previously said that the high number of new claims was a result of the state Legislature and the Washington Supreme Court lifting or expanding the statute of limitations on those types of cases.
“One specific priority Kevin will address immediately is the support of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in their defense of Tort claims filed against Juvenile Court and the County,” Gaddis wrote in a draft communication plan for the leadership change.
Mello has described the volume of the claims as a serious challenge to the county’s “financial viability” and has said the claims would bankrupt the county if they were fully paid. It’s a major moment for Juvenile Court and part of the reason the Pierce County Charter Review Commission has recently proposed establishing oversight of Juvenile Court detention facilities.
“This provision responds to serious and well-documented concerns regarding juvenile detention practices, including a significant number of tort claims alleging abuse of minors while in County care,” the commissioners who drafted the proposal wrote of the rationale.
At a June 15 commission meeting where the proposal was discussed, the former presiding judge for Juvenile Court, Joseph Evans, spoke about “rather significant changes” that the court had instituted in the last year. In vague terms he admitted that the former leadership structure lacked sufficient oversight.
“A lot of those are about structure, but they are also about accountability,” Evans said of the changes. “The previous setup of our Juvenile Court did allow some things to not be monitored as closely as we would prefer.”
At the Commission’s June 22 meeting, it voted 12-9 to send the oversight proposal to the November ballot. If voters pass the amendment to the County Charter, it would create a Juvenile Detention Advocate Office with a director appointed by the Superior Court and subject to the direction of the Superior Court’s presiding judge and the Court Executive.
The charter amendment would subject the county’s juvenile detention to an independent audit or accreditation review chosen by the Superior Court bench at least every five years. And it directs the County Council to appropriate sufficient funds to pay for it.
Juvenile court values unchanged
Later on in Juvenile Court’s all-staff meeting, a staffer said she was new to Juvenile Court and that she was drawn there by a commitment to values such as families, kids and diversity, equity and inclusion. She questioned if the court would continue to be rooted in those values.
“I don’t know the answer to that,” Gaddis replied, according to the meeting notes.
Asked about this moment in the meeting, Gaddis told The News Tribune in a June 18 email that his response was in reference to the specific values adopted by the Juvenile Court administration — “empowering young people, strengthening families and investing in the community.” He said his answer was that he was not sure if the bench would use the same language or update or edit the values.
Gaddis said Adams also promptly added during the meeting that it was the bench’s intention to continue with those values.
“The bench and I have repeatedly stated that it is the intention of juvenile court moving forward to continue to support the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiatives, the Positive Youth Development programs, and providing for the youth and families that are involved in the juvenile justice system,” Gaddis said.
“The Presiding Judges … Kevin Stock and I have met frequently with our community partners since March to ensure that the partners understand the bench’s commitment to our current programs and finding even more ways to support youth and families in Pierce County,” he added.
