WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Whatcom County Council has released a report in the investigation into the handling of sexual harassment allegations against a former Public Works Director.
Council member Todd Donovan gave an overview of the draft report before the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 24, reiterating the point that this was not a factual report. Donovan also apologized for taking so long when the council began to review the report.
The draft report comes four months after the county formed a three-piece committee to investigate allegations of wrongdoing with handling reports of sexual harassment. In April, a Cascade PBS story exposed allegations against the former Public Works Director John Hutchings when he was with the county and how one of the women involved was paid a $225,000 settlement from the county’s risk pool. The county council was not notified of the allegations or the settlement.
County Executive Satpal Sidhu came under fire earlier this year after he signed off on a letter of recommendation for Hutchings that was drafted by former council member Kathy Kershner, who was later found to have been romantically involved with Hutchings.
The report shows conflicting perspectives with human resources (HR) employees stating this was a one-off event and not something systemic while employees outside HR refuted. Multiple people said that HR was not accessible, mentioning a locked door to HR and how there needed to be more “humanity” in the department.
Sexual harassment training was labeled as a “joke” by some interviewees. Others said leadership was not held to the same training standards as employees.
Council member Ben Elenbaas, who served on the committee with Donovan and Barry Buchanan, said he tried to keep personal opinions out of the investigation.
“Everyone’s experience was their experience,” Elenbaas said. “I don’t think any one of us felt like we were trying to be a judge in this matter.”
Donovan recommended dissolving the committee and that this issue should be handled by the whole council from now on. The report, drafted by Donovan, recommends bringing in an outside consultant to find areas for improvement in the county’s handling of workplace harassment and presenting the consultant with the report.
