Numbers are in for the costs incurred by Grays Harbor County after the commissioners sent public works employees home early with pay.

On June 30, Grays Harbor County public works department supervisors held a barbecue for public works staff. The commissioners attended, as did some members of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office and other employees from additional departments.

Following the meal, the county commissioners briefly and informally conferred and decided to allow the public works employees to leave early for the day with pay. At the time, the employees would have received about two hours paid time off.

While it was meant as a morale booster and a kind gesture to county staff, Grays Harbor County Auditor Vern Spatz wrote a letter to the commissioners complaining that the action was a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act and a “gift of public funds.”

The county could not, at the time, account for which employees had taken advantage of the opportunity or which employees had stayed on the job.

At the next commissioners’ meeting, Commissioner and Chairwoman Vickie Raines said the employees would put “administrative leave” on their time sheets indicating the time off. However, a public records request returned the time sheets of every employee in the public works department, and no employee had listed “administrative leave” on June 30.

Raines said there was a miscommunication.

“When we met (during the barbecue) we were going to have everybody put down just their regular time — then we had a meeting, and (public works director Joseph Seet) was not at the meeting, but we said OK, have them put down ‘admin leave,’” Raines said. “That communication did not get forwarded back to Joe in time for the time sheets to get submitted.”

The time sheets also had the signatures of all of the department heads approving the hours as presented on the time sheet, despite the employees having not worked those hours that day.

“We (the commissioners) authorized the leave,” Raines said. “As far as any discrepancy on any other staff or the exempt staff part, I would say there is none — they followed direction.”

A spreadsheet, produced more than two months after the incident, also presented an inaccurate picture of how many employees were given time off.

In total, 67 employees were listed on the spreadsheet as receiving time off, but both Raines and Seet said that number is inaccurate.

“A lot of people were very thankful that they were given the opportunity to go home, but they didn’t take it because a lot of the county employees love the county, and they love what they’re doing,” Seet said.

The spreadsheet also includes how many hours each employee received, but those hours also are not accurate, Raines said.

“There are some errors,” Raines said. “When I spoke with roads at Copalis, all of those guys, because they work early shifts, by the time they got back to the shop, there was an hour left.”

The spreadsheet showed the cost to the county coming in at about $4,800. Raines said she believes the cost is closer to $4,000-$4,250. While most employees are paid from the road fund, 19 are paid in part by the general fund which is suffering an operating deficit. How much funding came from the general fund remains unclear.

Currently, the county is undergoing an audit through the State Auditor’s office. The audit already was scheduled, but the Auditor’s Office, having heard about the June 30 issue, also reviewed the situation.

The county was scheduled for an exit interview on Wednesday, Sept. 14, after The Vidette had gone to press, but the county already had a draft of the exit summary.

While the draft was not provided to The Vidette, Raines said the auditor noted that the discussion between Raines and the other commissioners was a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act.

Raines also said the State Auditor’s Office didn’t say sending employees home was illegal, but they did note it was at odds with the state’s Constitution.

Article II, section 25, of the state Constitution reads, “Extra compensation prohibited. The legislature shall never grant any extra compensation to any public officer, agent employee, servant, or contractor, after the services shall have been rendered, or the contract entered into, nor shall the compensation of any public officer be increased or diminished during his term of office. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent increases in pensions after such pensions have been granted.”

Before the commissioners take a similar action in the future, Raines said the auditor advised the county to draft language into the employee policy specifically allowing for the commissioners or elected officials to give paid time off.

In all, Raines said the afternoon off has led to a positive outcome.

“I have not received one negative comment about anyone being upset or asking why we did that,” Raines said. “Comments and phone calls, emails, Facebook posts, have been saying ‘What you did was a great thing to acknowledge your staff. And long overdue.’

“It was really a good morale builder, I thought.”

Seet said the employees were well deserving of the gesture.

“The road crew, they work really long hours. They work really hard. And they’re typically out in the field environment where they’re not appreciated by the motorists who have to sit in line and wait. So they do get a little bit of abuse out in the field, and it’s basically a very thankless job they do. And they love it,” Seet said. “When everybody else is asleep and warm in bed, our road crew gets called out at 3 a.m. to go remove a tree from a road, or to clear a road where a hillside has come down on it.”