Editor,
The piggy bank finally broke and the Island Transit Board needs to wake up and stop being a rubber stamp for the ongoing waste and abuse of the public trust.
It is time for Whidbey News-Times to submit public information requests and for an independent audit of this agency’s policies and practices to be completed.
Let’s review:
When the director tells her employees she “has the board wrapped around her little finger,” that could be a problem. Employees are told their presence is “not required” at public board meetings, and it was preferred they not attend.
Possible candidate/levy electioneering by the director and her staff in violation of existing laws and policies.
Abrogation of established hiring and promotion practices when it suited the director.
Most agencies — public and private — address nepotism concerns, but what about cronyism? If you’re a golfing buddy or attend the weekend socials, you too can secure employment or management position within this agency.
Repetitive hardware and software investments that ultimately did not fully meet mission requirements despite the personnel utilizing these systems complaints to the same.
One purchase costing upward of six figures. Costly training for these programs given to non-essential personnel. Training junkets involving non-essential personnel.
Excessive rider/equipment costs for the paratransit system due to waivers of existing rider ship rules. Under these existing waivers, costs could go up once routes are abandoned, causing the dispatch of an extra vehicle to pick up the out-of-bounds riders.
Management bloated with redundant titles and minimal job requirements enhanced by crony promotions. The inside joke is to grab a clipboard and look busy.
Director and management salaries that make that of Island County elected officials pale in comparison.
Assignment of on-duty personnel to provide daycare for the director’s children.
Continued need for unmarked and undocumented vehicle usage to hide personal usage, including the chauffeuring of the director and her family to SeaTac for a family vacation flight.
The list could go on, but employees are silent, fearing retribution as the transit is a “right to work” agency. If your dismissal cannot be covered by existing directives and policies, then the manual will be rewritten to cover the specific circumstance. Don’t believe it. Ask for the changes that have been made over the years. It will likely correspond with a firing.
Reustle Lindner
Oak Harbo
