human services, King County

County Human Services Director Calls Councilmember’s Contract Approval Proposal an “Overstep”
King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski

By Erica C. Barnett

King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski has proposed an amendment to the county’s budget that Department of Community and Human Services director Susan McLaughlin said will have “devastating impacts” on the county’s ability to deliver services through Best Starts for Kids, a countywide levy that pays for child care subsidies, mental health support, after-school programs, and other services for parents and kids.

An explosive audit last year found poor financial oversights, waste, and potential fraud in four Best Starts programs, and a followup investigation by the county’s ombuds office found that fraud, waste, and abuse “in some cases likely occurred” and that conflicts of interest were common.

Many of the community groups DCHS decided to contract with during and after the pandemic were considered “high risk” because were completely new to government contracting; the audit focused on these programs, according to DCHS Director Susan McLaughlin, “because issues had been raised around them” within DCHS. In April, the county auditor found that DCHS had made significant progress on audit recommendations, improving training and awareness.

Dembowski’s amendment would require DCHS to send a “notification letter” to the county council every time the department executes or amends any of the hundreds of Best Starts for Kids grants and contracts. Amendments can involve contract extensions, additional funds, or changes to underlying “boilerplate” county contract documents that require edits to many contracts at once.

Each letter would have to certify that the contractor has adequate staff and systems to both administer county programs and report back regularly on outcomes; that the grant advances BSFK goals and has measurable outcomes; and that neither the agency receiving the grant nor of its leaders or managers has ever been involved in financial misconduct, among other requirements.

McLaughlin, who was appointed permanent DCHS director this afternoon, called the proposal an “overstep” that would likely add months of additional process to each Best Starts for Kids contracts without meaningfully increasing oversight of the programs.

“I can certainly understand what the intention is behind this kind of legislation, but honestly, that amended amendment is not only unprecedented, but would really have devastating impacts on DCHS, on Best Starts for Kids, and our ability to deliver on the work,” she told me on the latest episode of Seattle Nice, where we interviewed the DCHS director about the audit and other issues.

“The administrative burden alone would be enormous. I mean, we’re talking about hundreds of contracts, because it includes not only new contracts, but any amendment. … So you’re talking about delays of potentially up to a couple of months in the work, for in my opinion, very little gain.”

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Although Dembowski’s specific proposal did not come up during a public hearing on McLaughlin’s appointment last week, Councilmember Claudia Balducci pushed back on Councilmember Rhonda Lewis’ suggestion that the county is currently overcorrecting in response to the audit and investigation findings. “I just feel I have to say in this moment that we have a problem with how the public perceives us right now, and I don’t believe we should be talking about overcorrection when we have not yet corrected that problem,” Balducci said.

Earlier this year, Dembowski proposed adding a new layer of oversight for DCHS by funding an Office of the Inspector General—in addition to the county auditor and ombuds—to investigate and look into complaints about contractors themselves.

Dembowski did not respond to requests for comment Monday and Tuesday, but we’ll update this post if we hear back.

homelessness, King County, Mayor Wilson

Regional Homelessness Agency Says King County and Seattle Owe It $8 Million
KCRHA associate director William Towey at last week’s King County Council briefing

By Erica C. Barnett

Seattle and King County owe the King County Regional Homelessness Authority around $8 million, KCRHA associate director William Towey told the County Council’s committee of the whole last week, referring to the $8 million in spending that, according to a forensic audit, “could not be reconciled” by auditors and “may have to be written off.” The $8 million made up the bulk of more $13 million the homelessness agency had either overspent or could not account for when Clark Nuber released its forensic audit in April.

“Basically, these are the funds that we should have billed to King County in the city of Seattle, and that we didn’t, and we are in the process, in phase one, of completing a cash accounting, which will help us identify what the amounts of those funds are and who they accrue to,” Towey said. A KCRHA spokesperson confirmed that the agency doesn’t know the exact amount they failed to bill for and how much they believe they are owed by the city and county, respectively.

Towey attended the council meeting without KCRHA CEO Kelly Kinnison, who was on a family vacation.

Committee vice-chair Claudia Balducci expressed incredulity that King County may be expected to pay KCRHA additional money, on top of its regular funding and whatever it will cost to untangle the agency’s finances and fix the most critical issues outlined in the audit.

Even if the city and county decide to take over control of the region’s homelessness contracts and shut down the agency, they could end up spending millions winding it down; already, the city and county have committed to funding a team of outside accountants, and KCRHA’s finance committee has recommended hiring seven new staff despite a hiring freeze.

“Did I hear you correctly to say that KCRHA believes that King County and Seattle owe the agency money, and if so, how much?” Balducci asked.

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“Yeah, you heard me correctly,” Towey responded. At some point between 2021 and mid-2025, the years the audit covered, “a situation occurred where we expended funds to providers and failed to bill either the city of Seattle or King County for those expenses,” Towey said.

It’s “not great,” Balducci responded, “that there was an $8 million that was unaccounted for, that now will have to come out of the backs of our taxpayers.”

A spokesperson for King County Executive Girmay Zahilay told PubliCola KCRHA has not provided a bill breaking down what the county “owes” the homelessness agency, but is supposed to complete an initial calculation of its outstanding accounts receivable by June 22.

“Failing to properly bill the city and county does not result in the city and county owing KCRHA $8M,” the spokesperson said. “Because the receivables have not yet been validated or tied to specific costs, it is too early to determine whether there is an existing County funding source or account available to pay any portion of the amount.”

Towey suggested that the $8 million that remains accounted for is as much the county and city’s responsibility as the KCRHA’s, because the two governments should have noticed that KCRHA wasn’t billing them and taken action to make them do so.

“Again, I tend toward being generous, but if I have a great relationship with a vendor, and I want them to come work on my business regularly, and they bill me every month, and I notice that they fail to bill me for some funding, I would probably try and correct that myself,” Towey said.  “Now, that is in no way meant to say that this is not our fault,” he added.

As he and Kinnison have done previously, Towey downplayed the audit findings, saying that since Kinnison was hired, the agency has addressed or is in the process of addressing most of the major issues Clark Nuber identified, such as poor financial management and potential misuse of “cash-equivalent” funds,  as credit cards and gift cards. “In the grand scheme of what this is about, these are relatively small dollar amounts,” he said. (Clark Nuber has strongly disputed the KCRHA’s positive spin on its findings, and urged the city, county, and KCRHA governing board to closely verify every claim from the agency, given its history of failing to follow through on commitments.)

Towey also suggested that the vast majority of the problems the auditors identified were long in the past, resulting largely from inept past leaders, early mistakes, and efforts to respond to homelessness quickly during the COVID pandemic. In “hindsight,” he said, people will look back and say, ‘”Gosh, that could have been done a bit more efficiently, but again the expenses are clearly to the right people for the right things.”

Balducci was taken aback by at the blithe tone of Towey’s presentation, which she called “completely at odds with where my constituents are,” Balducci said. “My constituents think that we are done with this organization. … As policymakers, we all own part of how we got here today. We made some decisions that in retrospect we probably should have done differently. But here we are, and I’m just afraid that this is a sinking ship, and regardless of all the work that’s going in, it feels like fiddling on the Titanic.”

Balducci was “shocked,” she added, that Kinnison didn’t make time to attend the meeting of “one of the organizations that’s going to decide the future” of the agency she leads. “That’s not a good look.”

Committee member Rod Dembowski, who was among the first councilmembers to call for dismantling the KCRHA, seemed more impressed by Towey’s presentation, noting that he had worked with Towey when he was head of Lake City Partners, a North Seattle homelessness agency.

“And so I would just say, William, I’m glad you’re over there at KCRHA, and I hope that your time there is short, and that we can get you over here at the county when that’s done,” Dembowski said.

In response to PubliCola’s questions about whether and how the city will pay the money KCRHA says it owes, a spokesperon responded, “The City, County and KCRHA are in conversation about how to resolve this and other on-going financial management issues at the agency, starting with embedding a financial firm this summer.”

 

City Council, Civil Rights, homelessness, Mayor Wilson, public safety

This Week on PubliCola: June 13, 2026
Upheaval at the Mayor’s Office, KCRHA Gets a Lifeline, SPD Hiring Surges, and nine other PubliCola stories you may have missed this week

By Erica C. Barnett

Monday, June 8

Morning Fizz: Wilson Backs Down on Tenant Protection Rollbacks

Fire Department Funding Plan Fizzles

Privacy Advocates Push Back on Surveillance During World Cup

Three stories in this week’s first Morning Fizz.

First up: Mayor Katie Wilson, who had been considering rollbacks to tenant protections requested by local affordable housing developers, has decided not to propose changes to the just cause ordinance that would have made it easier for landlords to evict tenants with three day’s notice and made it harder for renters to take in roommates and family members.

Second, a proposal to address the city’s budget deficit by moving much of the Fire Department’s funding onto a special taxing district—a story PubliCola broke last month—is dead, after the firefighters’ union declined to get on board with the mayor’s plan.

Finally, privacy advocates who supported Wilson’s campaign expressed skepticism at the mayor’s claim that she has seen evidence of a “credible threat” that justified turning surveillance cameras on at the stadiums during the World Cup games.

Tuesday, June 9

Seattle Turned on the Surveillance Cameras Before It Wrote the Rules

In a guest op/ed, anti-surveillance advocate Phil Mocek argued that Wilson decided to turn on police surveillance cameras near the stadiums before the city has even come up with rules for when and how surveillance will be deployed throughout the city.

City, County Plan to “Embed” Consultant to Address Financial Issues at Homelessness Agency

After a flurry of discussions last week, the city and county pulled back on a planned announcement that they would be taking over the homelessness contracts currently managed by the King County Regional Homelessness Authority. Instead, Mayor Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay announced plans to “embed” a consulting team at the agency to work on addressing financial issues identified in a recent forensic audit.

Wednesday, June 10

New Council Legislation Could Make Your Utility Bills Cheaper

Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss is proposing legislation that would expand eligibility for the city’s utility discount program to people at higher income levels over the next few years. Tenants without their own City Light accounts whose landlords use “ratio utility billing systems,” or RUBS, will continue to be ineligible for the discount program.

Auditor: KCRHA’s Corrective Action Plan Fails to Take Audit Findings Seriously

Responding to a “corrective action plan” KCRHA proposed to address the findings in a recent (devastating) forensic audit, the auditors urged local leaders to be skeptical of the KCRHA’s claims. The KCRHA has adopted a fairly dismissive attitude toward the audit, suggesting that most of the serious financial issues identified in the audit have been corrected, are being corrected, or resulted to forces outside their control; the auditors strongly disagree.

Thursday, June 11

Another Upheaval on Mayor Wilson’s Staff as Communications Director Departs

In a staff shakeup that PubliCola has heard won’t be the last, Mayor Wilson asked her communications director, Seferiana Day, to step down, and announced a major overhaul of her org chart (though no new hires). Sources said there’s an ongoing debate over who’s to blame for bad (or a lack of positive) press—the comms team or the mayor and her policy staff.

Friday, June 12

Morning Fizz: Police Chief Says No Plan to Slow Hiring Amid Budget Crunch

City Attorney Says “SOAP Orders Don’t Work” at Aurora Ave. Safety Event

At an event outside Council Chambers to announce actions the city is taking to address gun violence and sex trafficking on Aurora (including street closures and taking back guns from people accused of being involved in shootings), Police Chief Shon Barnes said the department has no plans to slow down on hiring, despite a budget presentation showing that SPD is on track to hire more new officers than it has funding to pay for.

During the same event, City Attorney Erika Evans took a strong position against Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution banishment orders—a bold position in a crowd of SOAP advocates, including the original SOAP sponsor, former councilmember Cathy Moore.

There was some backstage drama surrounding the event, which was originally planned as a council event excoriating the mayor for her lack of action on Aurora. Council-mayor relationships, which range from chilly to hostile, haven’t improved; lately, the council has been refusing invitations to mayoral press conferences as a kind of protest against Wilson’s tendency to announce big initiatives without talking to them first.

Afternoon Fizz:

Union Urges Wilson to Act After Investigation into Civil Rights Director Concludes

KCRHA Proposes 7 New Hires

Two more stories to close out the week. First, PROTEC17, the union that represents workers at the city’s Office for Civil Rights, urged Mayor Wilson to dismiss OCR Director Derrick Wheeler-Smith after an investigation into widespread misconduct claims affirmed at least some of the allegations staff made against the director earlier tthis year.

The KCRHA’s finance committee recommended making seven new hires at the beleaguered agency, despite a recommendation from the city, county, and auditors that the agency institute a hiring freeze.

 

Civil Rights, homelessness, labor, Mayor Wilson

Union Urges Wilson to Act After Investigation into Civil Rights Director Concludes; KCRHA Proposes 7 New Hires

1. PROTEC17, the union that represents workers at the city’s Office for Civil Rights, is renewing its call for Mayor Wilson to remove OCR director Derrick Wheeler-Smith from his position after an internal investigation concluded that Wheeler-Smith subjected “a subordinate employee to unwelcome conduct of a sexually explicit nature during a work-related trip,” according to a letter the union sent Wilson and two city council members last week.

PROTEC17 did not provide the investigation report, which PubliCola has requested from the city. For this reason, it’s unclear which alleged incident this finding refers to; as PubliCola reported earlier this year, staff described multiple incidents in which Wheeler-Smith allegedly made inappropriate remarks about women or sex at staff events. SOCR employees also shared misogynistic images they said Wheeler-Smith sent to male staff, including a meme of Kamala Harris suggesting she got the Presidential nomination by giving oral sex.

In February, PubliCola reported on widespread staff allegations against Wheeler-Smith, which included retaliation, financial self-dealing, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, and sexually inappropriate remarks and text messages. Staffers also accused Wheeler-Smith of dismissing civil rights issues faced by immigrants, Asian Americans, and other marginalized people.

“The same investigation found it more likely than not that Director Wheeler-Smith made repeated comments of a sexual nature to staff in the workplace, including in front of his leadership team,” the letter says. “The investigator deemed the comments not ‘objectively offensive’ despite the several employees who reported being offended, crediting instead a division director who ‘thought it was a funny story.’ Resolving whether conduct is objectively offensive by privileging those who were not bothered over those who  were is precisely the kind of judgment OCR exists to scrutinize in other workplaces.”

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The findings against Wheeler-Smith, made by an outside attorney who conducted the investigation on behalf of the city’s Human Rights Investigation Unit, were apparently narrow; in its letter, the union disputes some of the findings and notes that the investigation didn’t consider many of the concerns staff raised in calling for Wheeler-Smith’s removal earlier this year. These issues included retaliation and “conduct based on protected characteristics.”

As we reported, employees said Wheeler-Smith was dismissive about LGBTQ+ civil rights, directing staff to remove pro-LGBTQ+ imagery from internal staff publications and complained about former Mayor Harrell’s comments condemning an anti-trans event in Cal Anderson Park.

Wilson’s office did not respond to questions about Wheeler-Smith; we’ll update this post if we hear back.

Wheeler-Smith, who makes a little over $236,000 a year,  has been on paid leave since March. In his absence, OCR has headed up by an interim director, Erika Pablo, but she’s going on leave; her replacement, SOCR manager Mike Chin, will serve as an interim interim until she returns or Wilson makes a decision on the future of the department.

2. The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s finance committee recommended hiring for seven positions earlier this week, including a senior director for emergency housing services; a senior coordinator for emergency housing; an accountant; a procurement manager; and an IT and operations staffer.

King County Executive Girmay Zahilay’s chief budget officer, Aaron Rupardt, told the finance committee that he supported the hires, some of which could be internal promotions that would not increase administrative spending. It will be up to the entire governing board, made up primarily of elected officials from around the region, to approve the new hires and any new spending they may require.

In a letter responding to a forensic audit that found serious financial issues, including a growing negative balance, at the agency, Wilson and King County Executive Girmay Zahilay both called for

The committee also recommended approving $43,000 in unspecified discretionary spending requested by KCRHA CEO Kelly Kinnison. KCRHA provided a memo detailing the positions the agency wants to fill on Friday afternoon.

City Council, Mayor Wilson, Police, public safety

Police Chief Says No Plan to Slow Hiring Amid Budget Crunch; City Attorney Says “SOAP Orders Don’t Work” at Aurora Ave. Safety Event
Seattle City Attorney Erika Evans

1. Seattle Police Chief Shon Barnes, responding to a question from PubliCola, said the police department does not plan to slow down hiring, despite a city council presentation this week that concluded, “SPD may need to slow hiring to live within its budget” because the speed at which it’s hiring new officers is outpacing the department’s spending capacity.

“I have not been notified that the police department will slow down on our current hiring plan for this year. We’re moving forward,” Barnes said. “I think we all share [the belief] that we need more police officers, but we also understand the constraints of a budget, and until I hear anything differently, we’re going to continue moving forward.”

A planned briefing of the council’s public safety committee, which was postponed due to time constraints earlier this week, found that SPD hiring will outpace the department’s budget by a projected $1.7 million this year. Recruitment has been up ever since a new police contract raised starting salaries, after training, to $126,000 last year, and the number of highly paid late-career officers leaving the department has declined. SPD is on pace to have just under 1,200 officers by the end of the year.

Mayor Katie Wilson has asked all city departments to come up with cuts of 5 to 10 percent to help close a budget gap of at least $175 million. The police department, whose nearly-$500 million budget is by far the city’s biggest general-fund obligation, was reportedly asked to come up with $20 million in potential cuts.

2. Barnes made his comments during an announcement about the city’s latest efforts to address gun violence and sex trafficking on Aurora Ave. N. City Attorney Erika Evans announced she would use Extreme Risk Protection Orders, a tool typically used to take guns away from domestic violence offenders, to remove guns from people accused of committing gun-related crimes, whether or not they have been convicted. (Violent gun-related offenses are typically prosecuted by the King County Prosecutor.) Evans also said she would seek funding for a full-time prosecutor to pursue the orders.

 

At the same press conference, Mayor Katie Wilson announced the Seattle Department of Transportation will install barriers on four streets that intersect with Aurora Ave. N to block traffic from getting through; residents who have demanded the city do something about increasing gun violence in the area have installed makeshift barricades in recent weeks.

City Attorney Evans broke with council members on one key issue, saying that she did not believe banishing men who pay for sex from the area around Aurora, which is designated as the city’s Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) zone, are an effective way to protect women and girls from pimps and traffickers. (Former Councilmember Cathy Moore, who sponsored the SOAP legislation, then skedaddled off the council, was in the audience for yesterday’s event.)

Noting that the city has had SOAP orders off and on for 30 years, Evans said, “If they were effective, Aurora and other areas of Seattle, including Little Saigon, would be safe, and they’re not. … SOAP orders don’t work. ERPO orders work.”

3. The press conference, which took place on the same day Wilson announced internally that she was reorganizing her office and that her communications director, Seferiana Day, was leaving, featured some internal drama of its own. According to sources, councilmembers frustrated with what they viewed as inaction on Aurora planned to hold their own press conference without Wilson at which they would criticize her lack of action on gun violence and sex trafficking in the area.

After a flurry of discussions, the mayor and council agreed to hold the press conference in the awkward, narrow space outside council chambers, rather than outside Wilson’s office. Councilmembers have repeatedly refused to participate in the mayor’s press conferences, despite being invited—an indication that council-mayor relations still have a long way to go after some dramatic early missteps by the Wilson administration.

Mayor Wilson

Another Upheaval on Mayor Wilson’s Staff as Communications Director Departs
By Erica C. Barnett

In the latest upheaval at the mayor’s office, Mayor Katie Wilson’s communications director, Seferiana Day, is out. Day, who was out of the office for nearly two months due to a medical issue and has been on intermittent leave, was asked to resign after turning down an offer to take on a new role overseeing council-mayor relations, according to sources. The office will also undergo an internal reorganization, reassigning existing staffers to new positions and making Esther Handy Wilson’s permanent chief of staff (Handy is currently serving in an interim role.)

Wilson’s office announced the changes to staff  at a meeting Thursday morning. An internal announcement from Wilson said that Day is “stepping back from her day-to-day duties as Communications Director to focus on her health.”

Wilson’s office has not hired a replacement for Day, although they are currently in discussions with a person who would fill the role on an interim basis; PubliCola is not publishing that person’s name unless they decide to take the job.

Day was out on medical leave during many of the mayor’s so-called gaffes, including her flippant response to the prospect of wealthy people leaving Seattle because of the so-called millionaire’s income tax.

Prior to joining the mayor’s office, Day was the longtime spokeswoman for the city’s Office of Planning and Community Development; before that, she was a longtime communications consultant and a cofounder of Upper Left Strategies, a campaign consulting firm.

According to internal sources, Wilson and others in her inner circle have been frustrated that she has not garnered more positive press for some of her initiatives, including the announcement that the city will help fund construction of the long-delayed Graham Street light rail station.

At the same time, some members of the mayor’s staff have expressed concern that Wilson hasn’t articulated a clear vision on a number of issues, such as gun violence, public safety, and tenants’ rights; when Wilson recently considered rolling back renter protections, including a provision of the just cause eviction ordinance that allows people to add roommates, some staff members were appalled.

Others have questioned some of Wilson’s hires, noting that some are out of step with the politics that got Wilson elected or are not subject-matter experts in the areas they are overseeing.

Perhaps in an effort to address the latter issue, Wilson also announced an internal reshuffling of her staff this morning that will move four current staffers into new positions as “subject-matter Directors,” according to her announcement.

Mark Ellerbrook, currently deputy director of city operations, will oversee human services and homelessness; Nicole Vallestero Soper, currently the director of policy and innovation, will be the director of affordability, housing, and economic development; Hannah McIntosh, one of six “executive operations managers,” will oversee mobility, livability, and city infrastrucutre; and Alison Holcomb, the mayor’s chief advisor on public safety (and one of those five executive operations managers) will become the director of public safety.

Sejal Parikh, a former longtime staffer for City (and now County) Councilmember Teresa  Mosqueda, will move from her current job (deputy director of policy and innovation) to a new job as “deputy chief of staff for strategy and AI.”

The communications office is reportedly despondent about Day’s departure. PubliCola has heard that this won’t be the last shakeup; Wilson’s office is currently working on an office-wide reorg, which could result in additional staffers being asked for resignations.

In recent months, Wilson’s chief homelessness and housing advisor, Jon Grant, left after being asked to resign. Kate Kreuzer, her chief of staff and a longtime friend, was moved into a newly created special projects position.

We’ve asked the mayor’s office for more details about the reorg and will update this post if we hear back.