County elected officials vote 'no confidence' in commission

Communication, fiscal decisions cited; commissioners say their door is always open

Citing a breakdown in communication, Grant County elected department heads have signed a vote of no confidence in the leadership of the board of commissioners.

"While we do not take lightly the implications of this action, we feel it necessary to voice our concerns regarding your lack of appropriate leadership, inappropriate and unjustifiable economic decisions, and decisions made for the guise of election rather than the best interests of the public," the elected officials wrote in a letter delivered to the Columbia Basin Herald last week.

The letter was signed by Clerk Kenneth Kunes, Assessor Laure Grammer, Auditor Bill Varney, Treasurer Darryl Pheasant, Sheriff Frank De Trolio, District Court Judge Janis Whitener-Moberg and District Court Judge Richard Fitterer.

Coroner Jerry Jasman was asked to sign the letter, but he refused. In an interview, Jasman said he has less contact with the commissioners because his office is in Moses Lake and he works mostly in the field.

"I respect all the elected officials. The commissioners have been very good to my office," he said. "Sure, I don't agree with all the decisions that have been made. I do not have as many experiences like the others to make any other comments."

Prosecutor John Knodell was not asked to sign the letter because he represents the commission, and he voiced his support of the commissioners' work.

"I have the utmost confidence in the commissioners. I think they're doing a great job under very difficult circumstances," Knodell said.

While the vote of no confidence holds no legislative authority, the elected officials hope it will spur any interested parties to seek one of the two available commissioners' seats, Grammer said in an interview.

Commissioners Leroy Allison and Tim Snead are up for election this fall for their fourth terms. Commissioner Deborah Moore won her second term in 2002.

The deadline to file for office is July 30.

No department heads face election this year except for Superior Court judges, who were not asked to sign the letter.

The elected department heads can only be removed through a vote of the people, but the board of commissioners controls how much money goes to each department. And, with the county looking at a shortfall that could extend up to a million dollars this year, the department heads said they fear the county's fiscal crisis will not go away without a change in leadership.

The biggest problem for the elected department heads, as they stated in interviews, is a lack of communication with the three commissioners. The county officials have a scheduled monthly luncheon, but department heads have complained that all three commissioners haven't attended since last November.

"We have come to the point where we have no more dialogue with them," Kunes, who was elected chair of the elected department heads, said.

"We have no confidence that the commissioners are willing to talk to us. We would like to be a part of the decision making for the county, and we're not," De Trolio said.

The sheriff pointed to one specific incident where he felt as though communication was lacking. De Trolio said he had requested funding for a motorcycle unit and waited six months before the commission turned him down.

Pheasant said commissioners have passed resolutions that affect department heads, and the only heads up they receive is the agenda that is available to all of the public.

"They make their own decisions without our input, and we have to go back and fix them," he said.

Pheasant added that the budget has been balanced on reserve funds for the past few years, and he doesn't think the revenue will cover expenses this year. The public should be prepared for changes in the way the county operates, Pheasant said, and he wonders whether the people have been properly informed.

The vote of no confidence does not fall along party lines, with three Democrats and two Republicans signing the letter. Of the three commissioners, two — Moore and Allison — are from the GOP, and Snead is a Democrat.

Allison and Snead both felt a little sting upon receiving the letter in May, while Moore chalked it up to election-year politics.

"After the letter came in, I'll admit there was some hurt in receiving it," Allison said.

"I was disappointed. I've always tried to keep open communication," Snead said.

"It's an election year, and two of the commissioners are up for re-election," Moore said, adding, "We make a lot of decisions that not everyone agrees with."

Allison said he also wondered whether some of those decisions have led to the vote of no confidence. In the fall of 2003, elected department heads submitted a request that the assessor, auditor, clerk, coroner, sheriff and treasurer positions see a pay increase so their salaries are tied to the prosecutor's salary, which commissioners denied.

Other requests for funding within the departments were denied for 2004, which Allison said has contributed to the overall frustration within county government.

"We've had to become more frugal in the number of 'yeses' we've been able to say," he said.

Allison added that he thinks communication has improved since the elected department heads delivered the letter to commissioners.

Moore said she doesn't think commissioners could have prevented the budget crisis. Criminal justice consumes 70 percent of the budget, which must be funded, she said.

"If somebody could control the crime, we could control the cost of criminal justice," she said.

Snead said he is always available to talk to elected department heads, though he did the commissioners' time has been in greater demand recently.

"It's been more difficult to get into see us, and that's just the demand," Snead said, adding, "That's just something we'll have to continue to work on."

Moore said her door is always open for meetings with individual department heads, though she has missed a number of the recent group meetings.

When asked whether she has specifically avoided those group meetings, she answered, "I haven't attended some of them."