Kennewick councilman hit with ethics complaint, recall petition — right after he became mayor

The Kennewick City Council continued to show its divisions Tuesday when it voted to keep Don Britain as its city mayor.

Soon after the split 4-3 vote, Councilman Bill McKay announced he had filed an ethics complaint against Britain. He had given it to the city clerk just before the mayor vote.

It is the second complaint filed against a councilman in three months under the city’s new council ethics policy.

Also, McKay announced that he’d received a copy of a recall petition against Britain given to him by some citizens.

The Benton County Auditor’s office said it received recall documents Wednesday morning and was preparing to forward them to the county prosecutor, but further information about it was not immediately available.

Although McKay did not provide details of his ethics complaint, Britain faced controversy in his professional life last year.

McKay said at Tuesday’s council meeting that “if I had done something like that, I would resign.”

In October, Britain was fired from his job at the state Department of Social and Health Services for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with a female client. No criminal misconduct was alleged.

He said at the time that his termination really should have been handled as a policy violation, and denied any wrongdoing.

According to an investigation report by the Washington State Patrol, Britain and the client signed a a lease for an apartment for the first six months and then renewed it through December. Britain paid the rent.

3 sign ethics complaint

He also offered at one point to let her and her children stay with him when they were in danger of losing their apartment.

The client also went on a vacation to Hawaii while Britain was vacationing there, but they did not stay together, according to the WSP report.

Britain said he was sympathetic to his client’s problems and wanted to help her, but there was no romantic relationship to report to his DSHS supervisor.

An ethics complaint requires at least two council member signatures and it was signed by McKay, John Trumbo and newly-elected Councilman Brad Beauchamp.

“If John Trumbo or Brad Beauchamp did what Mr. Britain has done, I would sign one against them as well,” McKay said.

McKay said he could have filed the ethics complaint sooner but wanted to allow some time for any other council member to sign it.

The next step for the ethics complaint will be a review by the city’s ethics officer to determine whether it has enough merit to go forward.

Mayor elected on split vote

Britain has been on the council since 2010 and has been mayor since January 2018.

The council also Tuesday night re-elected Steve Lee as mayor pro tem, with the council split 4-3 on both the mayor and mayor pro tem votes.

Britain, Steve Lee, Charles Torelli and Jim Millbauer each voted for both Britain and Lee.

Torelli did not support himself for mayor, but the three council members who signed the ethics complaint against Britain voted for him.

The vote electing Steve Lee to continue as mayor pro tem, was split among the same council members.

McKay, Trumbo and Beauchamp supported McKay for mayor pro tem.

Hearing on 1st ethics complaint

Trumbo also addressed the open ethics complaint filed against him at the meeting.

He said a public hearing had been scheduled for 6 p.m. Feb. 19 at City Hall after the city’s new ethics officer concluded there was enough evidence to show that the city’s Code of Ethics had been violated after reviewing a complaint brought against Trumbo in November.

The complaint was signed by Torelli and recently retired Councilman Paul Parish.

Trumbo asked that the council authorize a defense of him in the ethics hearing, but the council did not immediately discuss his request.

State law allows local government officers to request that costs of a defense be covered if the officer’s actions were while performing official duties in good faith and allows any fine to be paid by the local government, in this case the city of Kennewick.

The council previously voted 3-2 to pay the legal fees of the late Steve Young, when he faced a recall from the Kennewick council. Young died unexpectedly before the recall proceeded.

Ethics officer has 30 days

After Trumbo’s hearing the city’s ethics officer, attorney Thomas Atwood, has 30 days to make a recommendation to the city council.

The recommendation could range from dismissing the complaint, to reprimanding Trumbo, to assessing a civil fine of $1,000.

Trumbo was censured by the council in April for presenting himself as a councilman in an unauthorized investigation related to the mayor pro tem.

He was removed from board and committee assignments for the rest of 2019 for “misuse of office.”

A majority of the council also adopted a new ethics policy, and the new complaint was filed in October just days after the council hired Atwood to serve as its $240-an-hour ethics officer on an as-needed basis.

The ethics hearing next month, with Atwood deciding who to call as witnesses, follows a complaint that Trumbo has a pattern of abusing his council position.

Trumbo had called the buyer of state Sen. Sharon Brown’s Canyon Lakes house with questions about the house, repairs, a mechanic’s lien, the sale and the assessed value.

Both the buyer and Brown were confused about whether Trumbo was calling as a councilman, which Trumbo said he tried to clear up on the call. He says he was not calling as a councilman.

Trumbo voted against the ethics policy, saying it was not sufficiently transparent and that it places too much power with too few people. He also said the council members should have been given more say in selecting the ethics officer.

This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 9:13 AM.