SnoCo council calls for better communication

Comparing the current political environment in Snohomish County to a “bad soap opera played out in the local paper,” Executive Aaron Reardon called for thorough dialogue and robust debate rather than counterproductive finger pointing between elected officials last week.

Thursday’s state of the county speech shifted from the usual analysis of the local economy, to addressing what Reardon referred to as a substantive tone emitting from county government.

“It is personal, it is destructive and is void of any real issue,” he said.

His words come on the heels of a $50,000 performance audit of the county’s Department of Information Systems (DIS) authorized by the council, as well as a $12,000 review of the county’s harassment and complaint process issued by the executive.

Depending on the DIS audit, the council is considering moving the department from under Reardon’s control to the Auditor’s Office.

Last year, management of the jail shifted from the executive to the county corrections bureau led by Sheriff John Lovick.

Within the council’s 2010 budget, members called for an examination of departments to streamline efficiencies. Council Chairman Dave Gossett described the changing landscape of county government resulting from the financial downturn and potential annexations as “a window of opportunity to look critically at how we do business.”

In his speech, Reardon highlighted a his- tory of improving efficiencies and implementing performance measures in executive managed departments during his tenure.

The current problem plaguing the county, according to Reardon, is a lack of communication. He takes partial responsibility.

“I accept and take full responsibility for my actions and my share of the friction between the legislative branches of government,” he said. “I am willing to bend over backwards to improve communication and the relationship between the two branches. But communication and relationship building is a two-way street.”

The council agrees that “street” requires some maintenance, but insists reviews of how the county ensures public records or investigates workplace complaints are in taxpayers’ and county employees’ best interests, not a personal attack on the executive or departments under his control.

During a special operations committee meeting last month, the council expressed their disappointment with a lack of information regarding the purchase, installation and testing of an e-mail vaulting system — a collection and storage device — by DIS.

Larry Calter, DIS director, explained to the council that the purchase of the system was authorized prior to his employment and was only tested within the department.

Councilman John Koster, operations committee chair, questioned the department’s use of time and resources for a project without consent of elected officials.

“The council’s concern is nobody can answer when the system was authorized, who authorized it, how much it cost, and you did all this knowing it is not in line with county policy,” said Koster. “I think it’s a bit egregious.”

Snohomish County Executive Director Peter Camp said the vaulting system was never implemented enterprise wide because it was not part of county policy. If the system was intended for county-wide use, said Camp, the council and other elected officials would have been involved.

Reardon said in his speech that the DIS inquiry wasn’t handled properly by the council. He stated a county official took his concerns to the media prior to contacting his office or the department itself.

“Political differences between elected officials is one thing, but elected officials reaching down and accusing professional employees of malfeasance without any evidence, any record or any supporting data is something altogether different,” said Reardon.

Too much is at stake, he said, it’s time to move forward.