Whatcom County Council names panel to investigate handling of sexual harassment allegations

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Whatcom County Council members appointed a three-member panel to investigate the recent allegations that former Public Works Director Jon Hutchings was allowed to resign instead of being fired for sexual harassment.

In a Committee of the Whole session Tuesday, council members named Council Chairman Barry Buchanan and council members Todd Donovan and Ben Elenbaas to an investigative panel that seeks to learn how the council was kept in the dark about the incident.

Elenbaas promised a sincere and focused inquiry.

“I’m not interested in engaging in any political tomfoolery” that would turn the matter into a “sideshow,” Elenbaas said during the meeting.

County Executive Satpal Sidhu assured the council that his office would provide any document that the council seeks and make employees available for interviews.

“I welcome the council’s forming this committee. You’ll have the full cooperation of my office,” Sidhu said during the committee meeting.

County Council members voted unanimously last week to conduct an independent investigation into a 2022 sexual harassment settlement involving Hutchings, an incident that came to light in a recent Cascade PBS report.

Also last week, Sidhu apologized for his role in the incident, which involved writing a “letter of introduction” for Hutchings that helped him get a job as public works director in Lynden.

Sidhu rejected a call for his resignation from the Whatcom County Democratic Party leadership, promising greater transparency in government and pledging to rebuild the trust of the council, the public and county workers.

County Council members also want to look at whether there is a conflict of interest with their lawyer, George Roche, who is senior deputy prosecutor in the Whatcom County Prosecutor’s Office. Roche also represents the county’s Human Relations Office, which handled the harassment allegations and settlement.

“This is an open book, with the exception of the names of (Hutchings) accusers,” Roche told the council.