Claims of being bullied by elected officials show ugly underbelly in Franklin County, WA

It’s distressing enough to find out that two well-respected managers in Franklin County left their jobs in recent months, blaming a toxic work environment.

But to have a county commissioner publicly dismiss those concerns is truly appalling.

Franklin County has lost two human resources directors in less than a year, and their resignation letters were recently made public by the Herald. While neither letter lists specific offenders, both mentioned bullying by elected officials.

Carlee Nave resigned in December 2021 after nearly seven years with Franklin County, most of it as the head of Human Resources. She came to the county with eight years of experience in the HR industry.

According to the letter, she had told County Administrator Keith Johnson that she “would stick it out until the next election in case there is a change in leadership,” but a job opening presented itself at Tri-Cities Community Health and she decided to take it.

Her successor, Eric Wyant, took over the position in January. He had worked in the Franklin County HR office for six years and was excited for the promotion.

But in his resignation letter, he wrote that while the position of HR director is one that should have been a “crowning achievement” in his career, after nearly seven months it is clear “the toxicity that my predecessor experienced which includes outright hostility and bullying by elected officials was going to continue under my tenure.”

At Tuesday’s Franklin County Commission meeting, County Assessor John Rosenau brought the issue up. He said accusations of a toxic environment have been blatantly thrown out against the county, but that’s not the case in his office.

But that doesn’t mean the concerns of two former HR directors aren’t legitimate.

Claims of a hostile work environment in two official resignation letters should not be considered unfounded rumors — or blatant accusations.

Later in the meeting, Franklin County Commissioner Clint Didier, said, “I don’t know where this toxic came from. This whole notion that we’re toxic in the county, I don’t know where it’s coming from.”

Well, that’s a problem.

He should know.

Let’s review some highlights.

Peter McEnderfer, former assessor for Franklin County, resigned before his elected term was up as soon as the majority power shifted on the commission. He left in January 2021, citing several reasons that included the “current political climate.”

His resignation came shortly after County Commissioner Rocky Mullen took office, and it’s clear by now that Mullen — for the most part — is often aligned with Didier.

Is it too big a leap to think McEnderfer might have foreseen the contentious atmosphere that was about to afflict Franklin County and he decided he didn’t want any part of it?

And let’s not forget the disgraceful way Mullen and Didier attempted to fire Franklin County Administrator Keith Johnson in April 2021.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Mullen 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 by surprise.

We said at the time that Didier and Mullen should be ashamed of themselves. Publicly humiliating a county employee the way they did was unkind and unacceptable.

Fortunately, Johnson ended up keeping his job.

But there have been other times when other people have been publicly disparaged at commission meetings.

Notably, County Prosecutor Shawn Sant also has been a target — especially when he wouldn’t condone Didier’s defiance of the Washington state mask mandate during public meetings at the height of COVID.

Commission meetings have been sidetracked by snide remarks and shouting matches. They’ve been used by Didier to promote a political stance against Gov. Jay Inslee instead of focusing on the business at hand.

The point is, there have been enough times hostility has played out in public at commission meetings.

It isn’t much of a stretch to think how much worse it could be behind closed doors.

This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 12:30 PM.