There are those who will tell you that I am the not-so-little boy who cried wolf, but only time will tell if that is the case or not and I’m very comfortable with all of us finding out after allowing the process to play itself out.
With that disclaimer, when are residents of La Center going to give a darn about what is going on in their City?
The latest development in our not-so-favorite Clark County soap opera came this past week when the City fulfilled my Public Records Request revealing that embattled department heads Jeff Sarvis and Suzanne Levis are demanding a payday or else they are going to file a lawsuit against the City that employs them.
Remember, (Public Works Director) Sarvis and (Finance Director) Levis were the main subjects of a report completed by former La Center Interim Police Chief Erin Nolan in May 2013. More than a handful of current and former La Center employees claimed Sarvis and Levis created a hostile workplace.
The stories the employees told Nolan, who then documented them and turned it all over to the City, would make most folks cringe. And, if you or I were accused of behaving that way at our jobs, I’m quite confident we would be out of work the same day. Two of the former employees said they retired early because of the way they were treated and another – City Planner Dale Miller – made a very passionate and public plea for help to members of La Center’s City Council as he walked off the job rather than continue to work for Sarvis.
I’m not a judge or a jury, and believe it or not, I’m really not trying to be. But, I’ve talked personally, often face-to-face, to a number of the employees who had the courage to tell their stories to Nolan and have their names attached to their accounts. If they were making the stuff up, or embellishing the harm they felt, then they are/were all wasting their time working in La Center. They should be making millions in Hollywood acting in major motion pictures.
Let’s recall the events that followed Nolan’s decision to document the employees’ accounts and turn over her report to the City in May 2013. Mayor Jim Irish claims he didn’t even read Nolan’s report for almost two months. Then, it sat in his drawer for more than three more months before The Reflector published its contents.
Irish then refused to investigate the claims and then changed his mind, turning the matter over to the Association of Washington Cities (AWC). In addition to providing other services, AWC provides the City of La Center with its liability insurance. So, AWC handpicks a Seattle-based attorney to “investigate’’ the contents of the Nolan report. In April, that attorney sounds the “all clear’’ horn, telling all there is nothing to see here. No laws or city policies were violated.
Weeks after the AWC-selected attorney finished his report, Irish was announced as a proud, new board member of AWC. Is anyone else wincing at the incestuous nature of all this?
Meanwhile, the former employees are still former employees. The current employees who spoke out are still current employees in an extremely untenable situation. And, the mayor and the department heads are walking around town like proud peacocks, feeling more untouchable than ever. So untouchable, that the department heads now feel an additional payday is in order while they continue to collect their six-figure salaries and cadillac benefits.
At the same time, La Center is in a financial crisis. How can that be you say? The City has $17 million in reserves. It’s in crisis because it owes almost $10 million on its sewer treatment plant. City officials are also trying to cope with a shortfall of more than $500,000 this year and about $413,000 in 2015. It won’t take long for those reserves to shrink to a very uncomfortable level if the gambling taxes from the cardrooms continue to dwindle.
The City is also subsidizing the sewer by about $400,000 each year to keep sewer rates from threatening triple digits. La Center hasn’t been able to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with its police department since long before anyone can remember and each time the City faces a challenge, it has to hire a consultant to advise them or take over the tasks altogether. What are the department heads being paid for? Why was the mayor elected? You can’t swing a stick in the City of La Center and not hit somebody who isn’t doing their job.
And, I’m not giving the members of the City Council a pass either. I know there are members who are trying to get to the bottom of the City’s problems and are frustrated by getting nowhere. But, there are others who are a large part of the problem and yet others who don’t seem to have the courage to stand up and do something about this ridiculous mess.
And if the empty seats at City Council meetings and the lack of a public uproar are any indication, the residents of the City continue to just drive in and out of town on their way to and from work without pausing even long enough to see what a slippery slope La Center is currently resting on. I’m sorry, I just can’t seem to find a way to bury my head in the sand like they can.
I can only imagine the size of the checks that are about to be written to Sarvis and Levis. Will anyone care then? Likely not.
Ken Vance
Editor
