A couple of a months ago, it was brought to my attention that there were claims of a hostile work environment in the city of Woodland. I literally slumped in my chair. Of all the stories that I could be handed to pursue, this would be nowhere even close to the top of my list. Here’s why I say that.
You will likely remember that we just went through a similar situation in the city of La Center. Employees in that city told a former La Center interim police chief about things they had experienced while on the job in the city and she put them down in writing and urged city officials there to take a closer look at the claims.
The letter to the city sat in a drawer for months before folks got so tired of the inaction that they came to me to see if I could apply a little sunlight to the issue. You’ve likely read or heard the quote from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.’’
In this case, it wasn’t. I made the information public until La Center Mayor Jim Irish reluctantly reversed his initial decision not to pursue the matter and then asked the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) to conduct an investigation.
I reported the results. AWC, who among other things provides liability insurance coverage to the city of La Center for precisely such matters, hand-picked a Seattle-based investigator who by all accounts did a ridiculously poor job of looking into the matter and later issued a report that there was nothing afoul in the city of La Center. The mayor and his department heads and their loyal brigade felt vindicated and the validation allowed them to conduct their business, to at least some folks, in an even more divisive way than before. Those on the other side of the issue felt more violated than ever.
This is an editorial, so I’m free to inject my insight and perspective, but I don’t see how anyone with even an ounce of objectivity could conclude that there was any real resolution to the situation in the city of La Center. A legitimate and thorough investigation just might have came to the same conclusion as the AWC consultant (I can’t force myself to refer to him as an investigator) but we will likely never get to find that out.
So, fast forward to a couple of months ago when the current issues in the city of Woodland were dropped on my desk. The sickening feeling in my stomach screamed to me, why bother pursuing the story, even if there was a validity to the complaints of a hostile workplace, there would likely never be any real resolution. La Center’s situation taught me that.
I haven’t picked sides in the Woodland issue. I have no idea if the two employees making a claim that they have been wronged have a legitimate beef with the city or not. But, one has been demoted and had his pay cut, the other has been terminated. So, this is a serious matter and it needs more than just a little sunlight.
The biggest difference between the situation in Woodland and that in La Center, is there have been official complaints submitted and a lawsuit has been filed. So, those will have to be resolved at some point. It always seems a shame to me that the only way we can get a real resolution in this society is to get in front of a judge or jury.
Stay tuned. We will follow the story wherever it leads.
Ken Vance
Editor
