Whatcom County Council discusses revelation of $225,000 sexual harassment settlement

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Whatcom County Council members knew nothing about a deal that allowed the county’s Public Works Department director, Jon Hutchings, to resign amid sexual harassment allegations, an incident that was detailed in a report last week by the nonprofit newsroom Cascade PBS.

In addition, an unnamed Whatcom County employee was paid $225,000 to settle her harassment claim and neither issue came before the County Council, according to a discussion that focused on the Cascade PBS report during the council’s Tuesday night meeting.

“There was a failure here, and we are in the dark about how all this happened,” Councilman Todd Donovan said during the meeting.

Donovan, who is county executive pro tem, brought up the issue Tuesday. County Executive Satpal Sidhu and Council Chairman Barry Buchanan were on council business in Ohio, visiting a correctional facility ahead of the county’s plan to build a new jail.

“We never had an executive session about that settlement, we never had any budget authority over that settlement, and we have no oversight of the Human Resources (Department) process involved with this,” Donovan said.

Two current members — Jon Scanlon and Mark Stremler — weren’t even on the council when the allegations were made.

During the meeting, Donovan said he hoped that Sidhu would attend the meeting virtually to answer questions about the news report, but he did not.

Even so, Sidhu took responsibility for incident in an email to council members sent Tuesday afternoon and verified by The Bellingham Herald.

“We acknowledge that (the County Council) did not participate nor make decisions on the outcome of the situation outlined in the recent article. The county executive, through (human resources), legal, and staff is in charge of making personnel decisions and ensuring policies are followed. We take this responsibility very seriously and I want to assure you that the unique facts of the situation and timing of decisions played a role in how it was ultimately handled,” Sidhu said.

Sidhu said that his office has taken steps to address the issue of sexual harassment and reassure county workers.

“This includes expanded sexual harassment training for staff along with a clear message that sexual harassment of any kind will not be tolerated and every complaint reported shall be investigated,” he said.

In the letter, Sidhu asked for an executive session on May 7 to discuss details of the sexual harassment allegations against former Public Works Department Director Jon Hutchings.

Hutchings resigned in October 2022 and received a letter of recommendation for future employment. He’s now the head of public works in Lynden.

Donovan told The Herald in an interview that he’s unsure whether the council should meet in executive session, a step that would prevent them from sharing details about their discussion.

“If we have an executive session, are we then handcuffing the council’s ability to shine more light on the way the HR process works?” he said.

Possibly complicating matters is that the County Council’s legal adviser is George Roche, a senior deputy prosecuting attorney in the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office. Roche handled the Hutchings incident for the County Executive’s Office.

“What I’m seeing in the email that Satpal sent to us is not consistent with what we’ve been hearing from our attorney, who was the attorney on the settlement, which raises some awkward questions as well,” Donovan said in the meeting.