The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON—If an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, then why doesn’t the county have a dedicated human resources manager?

Now, issues surrounding Shakira Bye’s termination from the library on Mar. 1 are prompting the county commissioners to take a more active role in library board operations.

When the commissioners met with Library Board Chair Tanya Patton and Board Trustee Karin Spann last week, they wanted answers about practices and policies regarding library staff.

Commissioner Chuck Amerein pointedly asked Patton if Bye’s employment performance and the reasons for her termination from the library were well-documented, and she agreed they had been.

Patton said a pre-termination meeting with Bye was held on Feb. 27, and that retired CCHS Human Resources Director Steve Stahl was at that meeting, along with the counsel for both parties. She said Bye had ten days from that date to request a post-termination hearing, but failed to do so.

Bye, who was present at the meeting in the commissioner’s chambers, said she tried to set up a mediation meeting with Patton and Spann for Jan. 26. Instead, Bye said she received a text message from Head Librarian Dusty Waltner three hours after her request, notifying her she had been placed on administrative leave.

“I was not understanding who was supposed to be protecting me from the library, in terms of Human Resources, because the only people they tell us to talk to is the Board,” Bye said.

Bye also told the commissioners she was not given an exit interview.

Commissioner Mike Talbott told Patton and Spann that he tries to make sure all county employees receive an exit interview.

“I try to see that is done before they are out the door,” he said.

Now the commissioners are asking the Library Board of Trustees to be included in the vetting process for appointing prospective library board members, and they have decided to establish a visible presence at future library board meetings, with Commissioner Chuck Amerein in attendance.

Commissioner Amerein expressed the opinion that oversight from the BOCC could include vetting potential board members or dissolving the library board, if necessary.

“There is talk of litigation and things like that, and that’s taxpayer dollars. We are responsible for the Board, and it comes back to us when someone is upset,” he said. “If this becomes a ‘thing’ then, protected or not, we are losing money, and I mean the county ‘we’. We’re hearing from very unhappy people asking, ‘how are you going to resolve this?’”

Commissioner Mike Talbott said the BOCC has received several “fairly detailed” letters from concerned citizens, which is noteworthy because they rarely receive letters of complaint.

“If people write anything, it’s amazing. Most people talk to us on the street,” Talbott said.

Patton assured the BOCC, saying, “We will certainly answer questions about how the board operates - our policies, our procedures, and our goals.”

She also stated the Library Board has been advised by their counsel not to discuss personnel issues.

Hiring a human resources manager for the county was at the top of Commissioner Norm Passmore’s list of priorities when he took office in Jan. 2017. Passmore hoped to accomplish that before he left office, this past January, but was unable to do so because of budget constraints.