An audit of the Snohomish County Executive Office revealed questionable hiring practices, salary increases and potential conflicts of interest, the Snohomish County Council learned during a Nov. 13 hearing.

Key findings from the audit, conducted by George Skiles of Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, showed that “position creation and compensation adjustments within the Executive’s Office did not always follow Human Resources standard protocols.” This frequently resulted in the movement of positions between programs and the “reallocation of existing positions to substantively different classifications, often without position descriptions.”

Further, the audit pointed out issues specifically with the offices of Economic Development, Recovery and Resilience and Social Justice. Although the County Council funds these programs, they are administered within the County Executive’s Office. The audit warned that continuing to place these programs in the Executive Office “poses a risk to the long-term sustainability of the programs.”

In an interview with My Neighborhood News Network, County Communications Director Kari Bray said, “We are unclear why exactly these areas of work would be more sustainable or effective elsewhere in the county government structure, and there are reasons to have them linked to the Executive Office, such as the visibility of the work and the flexibility to work and coordinate these efforts across departments.”

The audit stated that the peer counties reviewed as part of the audit assigned responsibilities of similar programs to existing county departments or created new departments or offices in county code to perform the work.

For example, one of the differences between Snohomish County and its peers was the distribution of COVID funds through a new office under the Executive Office – the Office of Recovery and Resilience – rather than the Finance Department.

County Council Chair Jared Mead proposed a budget amendment that accepts the audit’s findings and reduces funding for the Office of Social Justice and Executive Office staffing, which Skiles said is consistent with the audit.

Councilmember Strom Peterson said he had issues with the amendments for the executive office, stating that the council was overstepping its authority and heading down a “dangerous path.”

The recommendations made by Sjoberg Evashenk are:

– Consider adding staff to create capacity for proactive policy analysis and in-house legal counsel within the County Council Office.

– Transfer the tourism and economic development programs – now located in the Executive Office – to the Department of Economic Development.

– Transfer the COVID recovery activities housed within the Office of Recovery and Resilience to the Department of Finance.

– Transfer the human resources and grant-related activities performed by the Office of Social Justice to an existing county department, such as Human Resources or Human Services.

– Continue championing social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts countywide through the Executive Office.

– Follow human resources’ protocols for creating and changing positions and compensation.

– Develop and report on performance metrics relevant to economic development and social justice and consider developing performance dashboards for all county departments.

– Consider establishing a dual employment policy that applies to the council and Executive offices.

“The report’s recommendations about where specific bodies of work or offices are housed within county government are interesting, but we believe these need much more consideration,” Bray said.

Bray said two recommendations align with planning that is already in place or progress.

“We do plan to transfer the remaining Office of Recovery and Resilience work to the Finance Department upon the end of that temporary office, and we are working on strategic planning in coordination with our office and with department leadership that would incorporate more robust performance metrics for county responsibilities,” she said.

Position creation and salary tiers

Over the course of a decade, County Executive Office staffing had increased by 41% and had 31 full-time equivalent (FTE), almost double the number of positions in 2018, compared to  the 0.375 FTEs the County Council received in the same time. The audit states that the growth is largely due to grant-funded positions.

Skiles said that the County Council Office “runs lean” but is neither overstaffed or understaffed compared to other counties, partly because it does not have an in-house legal consultant.

The audit also shows that the Executive Office used placeholder job titles at least 37 times in 12 departments over the last 10 years. Further, there were at least 73 management-exempt reclassifications or range adjustments completed through the budget process for multiple departments, including:

– Executive Office

– County Council

– Human Services

– Planning and Development Services

– Public Works

– Conservation and Natural Resources

– Assessor

– Auditor

– Finance

– Human Resources

– Information Technology- Facilities

– Airport

– Treasurer

– District Court

– Sheriff

– Medical Examiner

– Prosecuting Attorney

– Office of Public Defense

– Superior Court

– Clerk

– Emergency Management.

County employees have a tier or “step” system for salary increases. The number of steps an employee has before reaching their cap depends on the position’s ranking. A lower-ranking or entry-level position will have fewer steps than a higher-ranking leadership position, as lower-ranking positions are expected to move on to higher jobs.

One position may have six steps and a cap in three years, whereas another could have 12 steps and reach its cap in six. After the positions have reached their cap, they receive cost-of-living allowances (COLA) only.

Skiles said the raises he saw during the audit “made sense,” although he could neither confirm nor deny whether a human resources department would approve them because the raises were not processed by human resources.

Another complication related to  salaries some employees receive is a lack of job descriptions. Some positions, such as communication and outreach manager, have not had a description filled out for years.

According to the audit, the Executive Office reallocated an “administrative assistant” position to become a “division manager—emergency management” position as a placeholder classification as part of the county’s  2021 budget. The position operated as the “communication and outreach manager” using the placeholder classification until a description was created for the position when an official job reclassification was completed in October 2024.

Mead said during the hearing it seemed uncommon for an employee to be operating with a placeholder title for three years while doing a job unrelated to the placeholder title and without a job description.

Skiles agreed. “Three years is a very long time for that to happen,” he said.

Skiles said job descriptions establish a position’s pay, and human resources examines the job function and how management envisions it. This information can then be compared to similar jobs in the county and the pay ranges. If there are no comparable jobs, human resources conducts a compensation study to identify the market compensation for that position.

The other reason for a job description is to outline the responsibility for a position.

“It’s the foundational piece of evaluating whether an employee is fulfilling their obligation for the compensation that they’re receiving,” Skiles said.

“I can’t say whether it started intentionally or unintentionally, but it’s something that evolved over time,” Skiles said. “But what it does is it essentially circumvents HR as that independent arbiter of what happens with positions in the county.”

Skiles said that the Human Resources Department’s perspective is not to advocate for a particular employee or department but to ensure that all employees are treated equitably, and that pay for employees performing similar functions across departments is equitable.

Skiles said that he has no doubt these salary adjustments wouldn’t have been made through the human resources evaluation process.

The auditor also explained that shifting an employee into a temporary code is not uncommon in county departments, as programs and departments are created.

Bray explained that a reclassification in the computer system does not reflect a change in the employee’s department, and that the county has had a process for creating or reclassifying positions since 2014. New or reclassified positions are approved through the budget process, but the budget software does not allow the creation of a new job title.

For example, State Sen. Marko Liias has worked in the Executive Office and Office of Recovery and Resilience since joining Snohomish County in 2021. He was given a placeholder position parallel to what would ultimately become his position. The closest job title was in the Department of Emergency Management; it does not mean that he was transferred to that department or his costs were billed to that department.

“The process that’s been in place with the county’s budget software and using placeholder positions can be kind of confusing for folks who aren’t familiar with it,” Bray said.

Bray said that the county is implementing new budget software to remove current limitations and that the Human Resources Department is working to improve position management.

“The Executive Office is supportive and appreciative of this work by our HR team,” Bray said.

Eliminating conflicts of interest

In addition to the confusion of job codes and salary increase rates, Sjoberg Evashenk’s audit pointed out “dual employment.”

Dual employment in the government is when an elected member of a local or state government works as an employee within another government entity.

The audit states that the County Council and Executive Offices have allowed dual employment in non-partisan positions, which is “permitted in state statute and county code.” The statute states that there are risks, “particularly when an employee in a non-partisan county position is elected to a partisan office of state or local government,” the audit added.

Further, the auditor recommended that the County Council and County Executive establish a policy regarding dual employment in both offices.

“There are other recommendations in the report that we look forward to working on,” Bray said. “In particular, we agree that a policy for dual employment would be beneficial.”

While there are examples of potential conflicts of interest in the Executive Office over the last decade, this doesn’t mean there’s a conflict. No federal or state laws bar elected local or state politicians from non-partisan county positions, and no internal policies exist.

Sen. Liias, for example, is the communications and outreach manager for Snohomish County. He started working for the county on Sept. 27, 2021, at a salary of $83,186 – paid with American Rescue Plan Act funds– and currently earns $136,250.28.

Bray said Liias takes unpaid leave during the legislative session, and the final compensation may differ. The number provided is the annual salary without unpaid leave.

Former Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary has been the county’s senior policy analyst since Feb. 10, 2020, after losing reelection to former Sheriff Adam Fortney. As sheriff, Trenary’s salary was $160,821.35 and his current salary is $173,903.52. His duties focus on law and justice, emergency services and homeland security, among other high-priority issues the county may face, which includes partial oversight of the sheriff’s office.

County Executive Dave Somers backed the deposed sheriff during the election and was criticized by some for the hiring. Among the critics was Fortney, who claimed it was political payback.

Former County Councilmember Stephanie Wright resigned after 12 years of service to become the county’s executive policy officer, serving from Aug. 29, 2022, to April 2, 2024. Wright’s councilmember salary was $140,763 in 2022, and Wright’s ending salary with the county was $211,270.08.

To read the entire audit report, click here.

To see the audit presentation material, click here.

— Story and photos by Rick Sinnett