SnoCo attorney resigns prior to release of findings

Two days before the release of the Snohomish County Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office’s practices and protocols analysis on Wednesday, lead investigator and attorney Mark Knudsen submitted his letter of resignation.

Knudsen, who had worked for the county since 2000, was the only person employed in the EEO office, which falls under Executive Aaron Reardon’s control.

In addition to investigating workplace complaints, Knudsen was responsible for drafting the county’s EEO plan and conducting harassment training for county employees. He had no clerical support in his office.

“I have enjoyed the opportunities working for Snohomish County have provided me,” stated Knudsen in the letter. “I did my best even with the media having made that exceptionally difficult for me these past three and a half months. I have enjoyed working with the employees of Snohomish, but I have concluded it is time for me to move on to other opportunities.”

His resignation is effective today, March 2.

In January, Reardon requested authorization to hire an outside special deputy prosecutor to conduct a formal review of policies and procedures regarding workplace complaints.

Linda Walton, a labor and employment attorney with Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle, produced the report.

Walton interviewed Knudsen and members of the county’s prosecuting attorney office. She also reviewed a sampling of open and closed EEO investigation files and a log of every complaint filed with the office.

According to the report, 126 complaints were investigated during Knudsen’s tenure. Of the 126 complaints, only 32 written investigation reports were prepared.

By Knudsen’s calculation, 41 complaints he investigated fell into the category of lacking an EEO basis or were resolved by management during the course of the investigation, the report states. Thirty-three cases were closed for which Knudsen was unable to determine why he had not prepared written reports. Records for an additional seven complaints could not be found.

Due to incomplete record keeping regarding closing dates of investigations, the report states it is impossible to determine with certainty how long it took Knudsen to complete most of the investigations.

Many of the records included in the report that did show closing dates, lasted longer than Knudsen’s goal of 90 days to complete investigations.

Suggestions from the report include moving the EEO responsibility to the county’s human resources department, implementing a computerized database for all complaints filed and establishing the goal of completing investigations within 30 days of a filed complaint.

The recommendations are being considered by the executive’s office.

For now, Bridget Clawson, human resources director, will be handling workplace complaints for the county.

As of Jan. 21, Knudsen was working on 11 ongoing investigations, the oldest of which from a complaint filed in August 2008. The remaining open investigations were filed last year between April and November.

Staff Reporter Adam Stewart: 629-8066 ext. 115 or astewart@scnews.com.