This article originally appeared in the Cascadia Daily News.
The Whatcom County Council introduced an amendment on Tuesday night to close a legal loophole that left them in the dark about a $225,000 payout in 2023 to an employee who accused her manager of sexual harassment and retaliation.
The manager, former public works director Jon Hutchings, resigned from the position in October 2022 during the ensuing sexual harassment investigation by the county. The settlement was paid in November 2023, but the Council said it knew nothing of the allegations or the payment until Cascade PBS broke the story in April 2024.
County code 3.05 requires settlements of more than $25,000 to be approved by the Council. However, Council members learned that the county prosecuting attorney’s interpretation of the code nullified that oversight in some cases.
This is possible because of the county’s membership in the Washington Counties Risk Pool, which it joined in 1988. Since that time, the county, rather than holding the liability of a claim, passes it on to the risk pool. That means the code no longer applies, Whatcom County Prosecutor Eric Richey previously explained to Cascadia Daily News.
“That’s no longer us making the settlement,” then-deputy prosecutor George Roche said. “We basically look past 3.05 in its entirety.” (Roche has since left the prosecutor’s office, alleging it was being “mismanaged.”)
While the settlement was officially paid through the Washington Counties Risk Pool, the county reimbursed the risk pool because the county was below its $250,000 deductible for a single claim. Essentially, taxpayers still foot the bill for the entire deductible through this process.
The amendment to the county code introduced on Tuesday, Sept. 23, would require the Council to be notified of payments made by third parties, such as the risk pool, when settling claims against the county.
“I think this is great. I think this is well-needed,” Council member Ben Elenbaas said. “Why we need this has been demonstrated to us in real time, so I fully support it.”
County Executive Satpal Sidhu asked the Council to clarify how and when it should be informed of tort claim payments.
“How about just not in the newspaper?” Elenbaas quipped.
At the suggestion of Council member Tyler Byrd, a 30-day deadline after a claim was settled was added to the amendment.
The initial amendment also appoints a member of the County Council as a risk pool representative, meaning they will be “in the room” during risk pool payment discussions, explained Council member Todd Donovan, who helped write the amendment.
The Washington Counties Risk Pool was created in 1988 to provide comprehensive and economic risk coverage, reduce the frequency and severity of losses, and decrease costs incurred in the managing and litigations of claims for member counties.
In 2024, Whatcom County’s liaison to the risk pool and the prosecuting attorney’s office both praised the entity’s role in helping manage and assess risk and liabilities.
“We have found the people that run the risk pool to be professional and to make appropriate decisions,” Richey said at the time. “We’ve found them to be careful with our money.”
The Whatcom County Charter Review Commission passed a resolution in February urging the County Council to hire independent legal counsel to review “apparent violations” of the charter and code.
The resolution also drew attention to the timing of the settlement.
“It’s disturbing that all of this transpired, the entirety of it, within the last two weeks of the reelection campaign of the county executive,” Charter Review commissioner Andrew Reding previously told CDN. “That raises questions about the motivation for going around not only the County Council … but also the public.”
Council members will vote on the amendment at a future Council meeting.
Cascadia Daily News originally published this article on Sept. 24, 2025.