At the January 21, 2025, Board of County Commissioners meeting, the Chair asked for a vote of “no confidence” regarding the County Administrator, Joy Andrews. She blamed the November trash debacle on Ms. Andrews for being “on vacation” while the debacle unfolded. In fact, Ms. Andrews was picking up her children from a visit to their grandparents in China that had, most likely, been planned for a very long time given the distance and family schedules.
The Chair called for a vote which did not pass 3-2.
Apparently not satisfied that Ms. Andrews survived the challenge, she and Commissioner Taylor tried again on February 4, 2025.
As I watched the Commissioner comments portion of the meeting on GovTV today, a couple things seemed odd.
Commissioner Taylor stated that she received an email “last night” from a county employee who claimed that there was an issue of sexual harassment among employees that had not been taken seriously or followed up on. She read portions of the email publicly. I do hope she had permission from the employee to do that. She then called for an objective third party to investigate the claim.
At the conclusion of her remarks, she asked the other commissioners if anyone else got the email. Commissioner Joseph indicated that she did, but that the email went to her junk folder. She then took over the conversation.
She proceeded to ask the interim County Attorney if they could convene an impartial investigation by an outside firm. In that dialogue, she mentioned that the other commissioners had received the same email in their junk folders.
How can 4 addressees’ emails go to junk mail, and one go to an inbox on the same server?
The first oddity I see is that five email copies were sent, and four went to junk on the same internal server. Perhaps Commissioner Taylor’s went there as well, and she reads her junk folder? Commissioner Joseph suggested a 10-minute recess so that the other commissioners could read the email that she said, “was in their junk mail.” Weird, eh? I wonder how she knew that? It all seems a little too tidy for reality, but hey, these days we’re used to reality being messy.
What are they doing to undermine trust in the county?
Commissioner Joseph seems eager to air dirty laundry to the public. She has been doing it since she was elected.
The very concerning issue in this situation is that, when another Commissioner finally asked for Ms. Andrews input – input that should have been requested immediately – Ms. Andrews indicated that was aware of the issue, that proper action has been taken and that she would not comment about a personnel issue out of respect for the allegation and for the individuals involved. She responded that HR had been involved in investigating the allegation.
Okay – let’s be real here.
Harassment IS wrong and IS serious. It is also always fraught with allegations and emotions from all involved. Human Resource professionals learn early in their careers that like most things, there is “my truth, your truth and the truth.” The ultimate goal must be to provide a safe and respectful workplace for everyone concerned. Some things to consider:
- Confidentiality. Regardless of the outcome, there is potential harm to someone. That is why confidentiality in the investigation is imperative.
- The outcome of an investigation. The outcome of the investigation is no one’s business but those involved. The outcome of an investigation take a toll on the emotions of everyone and rarely satisfy all parties because human interaction is nuanced and because the ultimate goal is a safe and respectful workplace for all employees.
- The nature of the problem. This is not a government policy issue; it is an employment issue. There is no need to take this to a public forum unless it is intended to malign the reputation of someone.
- And speaking from experience as a Human Resources executive in multiple industries and organizations, when an accuser has participated in an investigation that doesn’t go the way they hoped, they sometimes act out and elevate their concern to the next level of leadership. Clearly that is their right. The next level of leadership needs to talk to the leadership that was already involved and gain a better understanding before jumping to conclusions. Jumping to conclusions serves no good purpose except to confuse and point fingers because of an already-made-up mind.
Why did Commissioners Joseph and Taylor bring this to the public?
Given that Commissioner Joseph has already shown her hand that she wants to oust Joy Andrews from her position as County Administrator, I can only think of one reason…. that she wants the public’s support in her sabotage of a Ms. Andrews.
That is a shame.
If this had already been handled appropriately, Commissioner Joseph has maligned the County Administrator in the eyes of the public for no reason. Even if this was handled inappropriately, she has opened up private employment information to the public. Regardless, there is absolutely no reason to involve the public.
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