Franklin officials who tried to fire county administrator should be ashamed | Editorial

Franklin County Commissioners Rocky Mullen and Clint Didier should be ashamed of themselves.

Their recent attempt to publicly humiliate and summarily fire Franklin County Administrator Keith Johnson was so disgraceful it was shocking.

No one should be mistreated the way Johnson was at Tuesday night’s commission meeting. Let alone a public employee with more than 30 years experience.

Near the end of the two-hour session, Mullen dropped a bomb. Seemingly out of nowhere, he calmly made a motion to fire Johnson effective immediately, and Didier seconded the motion without hesitation.

Johnson was completely blindsided, and the motion certainly caught the public off guard.

Open meeting guidelines allow an elected official to bring up new business during a regularly scheduled commission meeting, according to Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. However, he said a healthy respect for transparency requires that issues of high interest be announced beforehand to provide an opportunity for public feedback.

Mullen and Didier both have shown contempt for their constituents by trying to force a massive shake-up of county operations without providing advanced notice, essentially leaving Franklin County citizens out of the process. And they risk possibly exposing the county to a monumental lawsuit over the improper dismissal of a public employee.

It’s true Didier tried to fire Johnson in a similar fashion at the Feb. 23 commission meeting, but his unexpected motion came after an executive session and died for lack of a second. The only discussion at that time came when Commissioner Brad Peck praised Johnson and told Didier he “couldn’t disagree more” with the attempt to oust their administrator.

Despite what Mullen said Tuesday night, there is no reason Johnson should have been prepared for the topic to come up just because Didier already tried to fire him several weeks ago. People watching the meeting certainly weren’t ready for it.

Johnson rightly pointed out he has been given no opportunity to defend himself, and had to ask Mullen his justification for letting him go.

Incredibly, Mullen’s response was that as a newly-elected county commissioner he feels like he is being kept in the dark and doesn’t know what’s going on in Franklin County.

Seriously?

When Mullen ran for office in the fall, he emphasized he had been attending Franklin County Commission meetings for years and was prepared to handle the job.

Now, after being in the position for just three months, he admits he knows little about what is going on in the county and is blaming a respected and long-serving administrator for his ignorance.

So instead of working harder on his own end, Mullen wants the administrator fired.

This has to be among the weakest reasons we have ever heard for letting a public servant go.

And let’s not forget it was Mullen who in early March made a motion to suspend the hiring of an assistant for Johnson. Didier sided with Mullen while Peck was opposed.

So, the extra help Johnson needed was denied by the very people who are now complaining about the job he’s doing.

It’s unbelievable.

On Tuesday, Johnson offered to talk with Mullen any time Mullen wants. Fortunately, Mullen decided to take Johnson up on the offer and, along with Peck, agreed to put off a decision on firing Johnson.

What a shame Mullen didn’t approach Johnson earlier about his concerns.

As for Didier, he appears bent on getting rid of Franklin County’s top executive. He opposed the decision to table Johnson’s firing and alluded to management problems that haven’t been spelled out publicly to explain such rash behavior.

Regardless of Didier’s reasons for wanting to let Johnson go, it makes us wonder how he expects to attract a quality candidate to replace Johnson.

Who will want to work for commissioners who treat their administrator with such little respect?

Didier and Mullen should publicly apologize for the way they treated Johnson on April 6, and they should apologize to Franklin County citizens for not giving notice of their intentions.

Their treatment of Johnson has been disgraceful and unfair. For those who missed it, we encourage readers to watch the attached video online so they can see the appalling way Didier and Mullen behaved.

It was shamefully unprofessional.

This story was originally published April 9, 2021 at 12:53 PM.