Snohomish County Planning Director's Timecard 'Discrepancy'

Is it just really clear now to everyone about the reality of Snohomish county governmental culture?

I'm no expert, but it appears to be a festering petri dish of arrogant entitlement, drunken binges, conflicts of interest & taxpayer abuses.

Or maybe I'm just being cynical?

Poem to follow in another post...



Disgraced Snohomish County official's timecard is disputed

While it shows Craig Ladiser worked 5.5 hours, county officials say he wasn't on the clock

By Noah Haglund
Herald Writer
EVERETT — Former Snohomish County planning director Craig Ladiser's time sheet shows him on the clock the day witnesses reported him exposing himself to a woman during a golf tournament.

The document says he spent most of the work day — 5.5 hours — in "stakeholder relations."

County officials maintain that the time sheet doesn't accurately report how Ladiser spent the day. In reality, they say, Ladiser took time off to attend the June 24 event in Redmond hosted by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. An e-mail the director sent to staff supports that account.

"It's clear from Craig's e-mail to his management team and to myself that he was out of the office that day," Executive Director Brian Parry said. "We've gone back and reviewed his calendar that week."

Because he was a manager exempt from claiming overtime pay, Ladiser got paid for 40 hours even though he logged 42 hours on county business that week, Parry said.

The confusion stems in part from the planning department's time-keeping system, Parry said. It tracks whether an employee has worked at least 40 hours a in week. The department does it that way to track how much time planning department employees spend on different issues.

"It's not a system used in any other county department," Parry said.

Months before the golf tournament, county payroll staff had been planning to review how managers keep track of their time. They still expect to perform the review this year.

The county executive's office fired Ladiser, 59, last month after an independent investigation supported a woman's claim that while drunk, he deliberately exposed himself to her. Ladiser has said that he is an alcoholic and can't remember what happened. He has since sought treatment.

Nothing in county policy would have kept Ladiser from golfing with Master Builders employees. County officials said Ladiser followed policy by telling a supervisor where he was going.

Still, an independent government researcher and at least one county councilman have said Ladiser might have created a perception of bias, even if none existed. Ladiser attended the tournament, which has been described as a social mixer, as a guest and didn't have to pay a $130 entry fee.

Ladiser was a management employee who earned a salary and was ineligible for overtime. His time cards, however, were filled out as though he worked eight hours per day. They added up to 40 hours per week, though he usually worked more than that. Leftover time was credited to another day later in the week, or simply not recorded.

Ladiser's assistant, Heather Coleman, usually filled out the time card. The 5.5 hours with stakeholders on the day of the tournament was part of 10 hours Ladiser spent earlier in the week working on regional government planning and being interviewed by television news, she said.

"It does not reflect activities of that day," she wrote in a Sept. 2 memo.