Franklin County’s entire civil service commission just quit. What happens now?

All three volunteer members of an important Franklin County commission just resigned.

The move comes after months of strife, with civil service commission members apparently unable to work together to get lists of recommendations ready quickly enough for the county to hire new jailers and sheriff’s office employees.

The regular members indicated the commission’s chairwoman was the reason they left.

Franklin County Civil Service Commission members Mark Jansen and Reynaldo Gomez sent resignation letters to County Administrator Mike Gonzalez on Monday, and the commission’s chairwoman, Michelle Andres, announced her resignation at Tuesday’s county commission meeting.

Civil service commissioners are appointed by city or county leaders to test and recommend candidates for police departments, sheriff’s offices, jails and fire departments.

Typically they arrange and administer the civil service tests for candidates, then send a list of the top candidate recommendations to be hired.

There has been tension in Franklin County since at least the beginning of the year regarding civil service exam testing. Sheriff Jim Raymond even asked commissioners to move the chief examiner post out of the Human Resources Department into its own role, in order to get candidates through more quickly.

That role was made an independent position, but had not yet been filled.

Most recently, Gonzalez was overseeing testing process.

Andres apparently took exception to Gonzalez administering the test, but Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant said last week that Gonzalez had the proper authority because he oversees the manager of the Human Resources Department.

Why did they quit?

In her letter of resignation, Andres cited her personal health and the county’s “toxicity.”

She said at recent county commission meetings that she had been recovering from some surgery but meeting minutes show she had continued to attend recent civil service meetings online over Zoom.

“Effective immediately due to my personal health and the environment of toxicity (specifically the lack of will to work together to resolve issues that arise as opposed to blaming and blame shifting) and the high turnover from qualified county employees who grasp Civil Service to those who do not — I am resigning as Civil Service Commissioner and Chair,” Andres wrote.

Andres said she will remain available until Aug. 1 to assist the county.

Gomez wrote that he was resigning because he had not expected it would be so difficult to conduct business during their meetings due to “discord and dissention” between the commission and sheriff’s office.

Jansen also pointed to difficulties conducting business, laying the blame on Andres.

“I feel the commission chairwoman is overbearing with a smothering attitude, which is causing dissention within the Commission, Sheriff’s Department and other support staff,” Jansen wrote.

Gonzalez told the Herald that growing frustration ultimately led to a deadlocked commission that wasn’t getting recommendations to the sheriff’s office quickly enough for hiring to be done.

“Civil Service has been a challenge for quite some time at Franklin County. It predates my appointment. I’ve been working with all the board members to right the ship since the day I walked in the door. As was expressed in their resignation letters, there was real frustration in how the board chair was operating the commission,” Gonzalez wrote in an email to the Herald.

“I’ve always had a great relationship with Michelle Andres and I think she gave 1,000 percent to the position. There were many things she did really well but other things that were creating friction between the Sheriff’s Dept. and Civil Service Board members. I think for her it was the right move to resign. I will always appreciate her efforts,” he said.

“As for the other members, they felt like there wasn’t any other option other than to resign based on how things were going. I’m an optimist and was encouraged that both have expressed to me their willingness to come back onto the commission without the former board chair. We can do that as early as July 5th. Ultimately it’s up to the (county commissioners) to reappoint them,” Gonzalez said.

Raymond told the Herald that the corrections officer positions are particularly hard to hire for because other counties can pay more, or candidates for jailers can move to patrol positions and make significantly more.

The Franklin County jail currently has 20 openings, with only a handful of candidates in the process for hiring.

Raymond said the sheriff’s office has been forced to advertise positions and try to recruit on their own because Andres allegedly was withholding documents and interfering with appointments and promotions.

“It’s a short supply for a low-paying job for what we have currently going on in the jail, and if we don’t figure out how to ride it, we’re probably going to have to look at limiting booking or canceling contracts,” Raymond said.

What happens now?

According to Washington state law, the county commissioners can remove or appoint members without the need for confirmation. They should be able to reappoint members if they are interested in coming back, or bring in new members.

The appointments would need to come during a county commission meeting, and be approved by a formal resolution. That could be done at a regular meeting or a special called meeting.

Gonzalez said the sheriff’s office will be able to proceed with new hires in the interim, as they already weren’t receiving regular lists and sheriff’s command staff was having to step in.

Civil service commissioners must be residents of the county for at least two years prior, and cannot be employed by the county or serve on any other boards.

The commission must also limit members of the same political party to a maximum of two of the three seats.

The Municipal Research Service Council, a nonprofit that provides legal and policy guidance in Washington, notes that this rule may not be enforceable, and is often ignored.

It’s unclear if new commissioners would fill the remainder of the previous members’ terms or if the county would have to treat the commission as a new body with staggered terms for the initial members.