Thurston County Commissioner Emily Clouse will remain suspended for now after a motion to reinstate her failed to gain traction Tuesday.
Commissioner and Board Chair Tye Menser motioned to restore Clouse to her appointed boards and commissions during an agenda-setting meeting. However, no other commissioner seconded the motion, meaning it did not have enough support to be voted on.
Menser said he felt "confused" by his seatmate's reluctance to reinstate Clouse, considering what the board heard on Thursday. That day, the board held a close-door meeting where they received the results of a third-party investigation into a workplace dating relationship between Clouse and a county employee.
"There were some inflammatory allegations that kind of justified that motion (to suspend Clouse) to begin with," Menser said. "Those inflammatory allegations did not appear to be substantiated. We heard our advice from counsel on this issue and I'm really confused as to why we wouldn't restore the commissioner to her assignments at this juncture."
Commissioners Wayne Fournier, Carolina Mejia and Gary Edwards voted to temporarily suspend Clouse on Aug. 13 as what they called a "precautionary measure." Menser did not attend that meeting, citing legal advice, and has said he would not have voted to suspend her.
The county has so far refused to elaborate on the nature of the investigation or its outcome but has promised to release the final results at a still undetermined time. As a result, the public has only been able to decern tidbits of information via vague statements from individual commissioners and Clouse's attorney, Maia Robbins.
The board's discussion on Tuesday provided some new details about the status of the investigation and showed where the commissioners stand so far.
Clouse referred questions about the discussion to Robbins. The Olympian has asked Robbins to comment.
Why have commissioners not reinstated Clouse yet?
Though the board received a legal opinion last week, Fournier said he wanted to hold off on potentially reinstating Clouse until the board could discuss the final report and examine it from a human resources and policy lens.
"I said I'd wait until the final report came out to do or say anything," Fournier said. "In my opinion, this is premature. I want the final report and then I'd like to discuss with all of us what the commissions' thoughts are on the findings because there are some."
Menser then said he was surprised Commissioner Gary Edwards did not support the motion to reinstate Clouse. He said his position seemed "inconsistent" with his past statements about commissioner autonomy and responsibility to constituents.
Edwards said this situation has nothing to do with board business and he's concerned about the possible cost to county taxpayers.
"This case that we're dealing with here was 100% a decision by Commissioner Clouse," Edwards said. "To what it looks like, admittedly there's some inappropriate action but 100% her choice and that puts us in a completely different ball game."
The county already has spent thousands to investigate the situation, law firms are involved and there's a potential for "serious damage against the county," Edwards said.
"We have conflicting information that has come out, even from Commissioner Clouse conflicting information, and so we don't know the facts yet," Edwards said.
Menser then referenced a debacle during the 2020 election when Mejia first ran for her seat. Edwards asked human resources staff for a portion of Mejia's social security number to verify a baseless claim she was not a U.S. citizen and thus ineligible for elected office.
Menser called that an "incredible ethical and professional transgression" that had nothing to do with a commissioner's job. He said the board at the time improved its policy but did not discuss suspending Edwards from his duties.
"There was no further discussion of any kind of disciplinary action, which in my view would have been far more justified than what we heard (about Clouse), maybe not at the beginning of this whole process, but after the oral presentation of a thorough investigation, that third-party investigation that we just paid for."
Menser said there is now no "factual justification" for the motion to suspend Clouse and he doesn't see what a written report would change about what the board heard.
"You heard there's no corroborating evidence for those inflammatory allegations that justified the motion, so I think it's unconscionable for us to continue to preclude a commissioner elected by the entire voters of Thurston County from doing her job at this juncture on this factual record," Menser said.
Fournier said he wasn't a commissioner when that happened, but he wants to handle the current situation in the way he believes is right.
Fournier went on to say he wants the board to develop an official statement in response to the final report and set a precedent for future boards about how to handle similar situations.
"Let's just try to finish this out, walk, don't run and in a week or two, the chips fall wherever they fall," Fournier said.
Mejia agreed with Fournier. She said she still has a lot of questions about the investigation and wants time to meet with the county manager, the investigator and attorneys as well.
"So, I'm not ready to move in any direction until there is something that's a bit more finalized," Mejia said.
Menser, an attorney, disagreed with his seatmates and said he believes the process can move forward without Clouse's suspension.
"Once again, this board knows better than our legal team," Menser said.
Fournier responded by alluding to a recent Washington state audit finding against the county. Earlier this year, the state Auditor's Office found the county did not comply with state law when it used millions of dollars to remodel and equip its administrative headquarters.
"Just going on whatever the attorney said isn't always working out for us," Fournier said.
Menser concluded the meeting by asking County Manager Leonard Hernandez to set up a follow-up executive session where the board can debate the matter further.
The board has contracted Robin L. Nielsen, PLLC, a Seattle-based workplace investigator and consultant, to investigate Clouse, according to county spokesperson Meghan Porter. The cost of the county's contract with Nielsen is not to exceed $10,000, she said.
Robbins said last month that her client has been cooperating with an investigation into a "brief dating relationship" and the board's decision to suspend Clouse was "overkill and not warranted" by the situation at hand.
Mejia later made a public statement, where she accused Clouse of using her "position of power and system" and made it "work for her." Robbins responded by calling Mejia's statement "performative theatrics."
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