Franklin County lost 2 administrators in 2 years. Now they want to cut the job
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Franklin County elected officials legal troubles
Several elected leaders in Franklin County, Wash. are facing criminal investigations.
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Franklin County leaders are considering eliminating the county’s top job after losing their second administrator in as many years.
The move, first proposed by commissioner Clint Didier, came just days after he tried to have former County Administrator Mike Gonzalez fired.
That motion failed and a week later the county agreed to a $133,000 severance agreement.
Didier and commission Chairman Rocky Mullen are under criminal investigation, along with auditor Matt Beaton, for allegedly trying to manipulate a payment to a HAPO Center vendor and then trying to cover it up, show court documents.
Commissioner Stephen Bauman is also in hot water over allegedly changing locks in his office and refusing to provide a key to the sheriff’s office.
Didier pointed to a small number of other counties in the state that don’t use an administrator led courthouse structure, but it’s unclear how that would work in Franklin County.
In Franklin County, the county’s administrator is in charge of basically everything that doesn’t fall under another elected official, as well as budgeting, human resources and more.
An analysis by the Herald shows that eliminating Franklin County’s administrator position would be complex. It would require near daily work from the commissioners and likely necessitate hiring several other employees to divide up the work.
Currently, the commissioners meet once a week on Wednesdays, with the county administrator serving as their voice in day-to-day operations.
It would give the commissioners more direct power in the courthouse, but it could also require giving other elected officials more autonomy over managing their employees.
It’s unclear how the three commissioners would handle the greatly increased workload as they are all business owners.
Former Washington State Association of Counties executive director Eric Johnson has agreed to come on as an interim administrator while they decide on a direction.
Administrator’s role
Franklin County’s most recent organization chart has the administrator overseeing public works, facilities, the HAPO Center, Information Services, Human Resources, the Office of Public Defense, project analysts and more.
Former administrator Mike Gonzalez also took on the Civil Service Examiner role after issues with getting qualified law enforcement and jail candidates to the sheriff’s office last year.
He was also working to improve the culture and environment in the courthouse after years of bleeding employees, many of whom said they had been caught up in the crossfighting of elected officials.
The county currently has a staggering 30% turnover rate, according to a recent benefits presentation.
Other initiatives he took on included steering the commissioners’ vision for the future of the HAPO Center, coordinating with the Office of Public Defense to lobby for much needed funding for the attorney shortage crisis and developing plans for areas where the county lacked major financial and employee related policies.
Since Gonzalez’s departure the commissioners have had to assign a new employee to oversee public record requests and expand the chairman’s authority to approve smaller payments to keep day-to-day operations running.
According to the 2023 job listing, the duties of Franklin County’s administrator include:
- Providing fiscal and budgetary services.
- Making reports and recommendations to the board.
- Supervising all non-elected department heads and assisting as needed.
- Working cooperatively with the offices of the treasurer, auditor and any other county department required for the development of the budget.
- Coordinating and providing liaison between the board and all county departments, elected officials and state auditor.
- Acting as chief negotiator for all affiliated unions with regard to wages, benefits and contract language for the upcoming year(s).
- Assisting the board by working closely with the county civil attorney and outside legal counsel in matters such as litigation of personnel matters, breach of contracts, unlimited and limited commissioner bond issuance, and rewriting professional service agreements.
Other duties outlined in Gonzalez’s contract included:
- Ensuring all ordinances and resolutions are faithfully executed
- Development of goals and strategic policy objectives, while ensuring staff supports them as well
- Comprehensive oversight and management of facilities upgrade projects
- Creating capital facilities and 5-year strategic plans
Franklin County structure
Franklin County is currently dealing with several major issues due to a looming budget crisis.
They’re already one of the leanest counties in the state in terms of budget and employee counts, and are having trouble attracting and retaining talent due to low pay and tense conditions in the courthouse.
A financial study done earlier this year by consulting group Consor showed that Franklin is running fewer than 300 employees for the county’s 100,000 residents.
Grant County, which has a similar population, has 711 employees, according to the Grant County Economic Development Council.
Benton County employs about 700 for its 260,000 residents.
Benton and Grant likely have inherently larger employee numbers because they administer several programs that Franklin does not, due to bi-county agreements in the Tri-Cities.
Spokane County has 2,000 employees for the county’s half million residents.
In addition to the financial concerns a restructuring could bring, Franklin County eliminating its administrator would also likely come with a people cost.
The county has struggled to retain employees, especially department heads in recent years. Many of those who have left, including several human resources directors, cited the behavior of elected officials as their reason for quitting.
By eliminating the administrator role, the county would be left without an intermediary and advocate between employees and elected officials.
Most of Washington’s 39 counties use an administrator. A handful have slightly different structures.
Here’s how other counties have approached the concept.
Grant County
Grant County’s courthouse has several notable differences. Their commissioners start the week with nearly full day meetings on Mondays and Tuesday, with other meetings set throughout the week. Some of those are individual boards they serve on.
They also have several other departments Franklin does not, such as Grant Integrated Services and Central Services. The Grant department manages funding from grant revenue for things such as mental healthcare, while central services oversees interfund communications, facilities and maintenance and technology services.
Both of these areas have department heads and extra staff.
Yakima County
Yakima County has no county administrator, but their commissioners meet three times a week with work sessions on Mondays and Fridays and full meetings on Tuesdays.
Yakima County also has a financial services department, which handles budgets, purchasing and grant management. Franklin County currently tasks the administrator with overseeing budgets, with help from the auditor’s office.
Their public works departments, such as roads and facilities are rolled into a Public Services department.
They also have a Human Services department that manages services for community services such as mental health, veterans, and homeless services. All three of these areas have department heads.
Spokane County
Spokane County has a Chief Executive Officer. The role is largely similar to a county administrator, but they have several larger groupings of departments overseen by an executive team, structured more like a private sector business.
Those executive team leaders are responsible for managing nearly three dozen individual departments, many with their own department heads and teams.
