By Erica C. Barnett
On Friday, the governing board of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, made up mostly of elected officials from around the county, voted to resolve four workplace misconduct complaints against KCRHA CEO Kelly Kinnison with “a letter reminding her of the organization’s policy on retaliation,” King County Executive Shannon Braddock said during a special board meeting last Friday.
Kinnison will also have to participate in executive coaching through the end of the year. The coach, hired before KCRHA had completed its investigation, will cost KCRHA $67,500 and will also do an organizational assessment of the agency.
A four-member panel of KCRHA board members—Braddock, Seattle Deputy Mayor Tiffany Washington, Renton City Councilmember Ed Prince, and Auburn Human Services Director Kent Hay—came up with the disciplinary recommendation.
On Friday, Braddock noted that KCRHA had also retained three outside attorneys to work on the investigation. As we reported in August, Kinnison told the agency’s general counsel, Edmund Witter, that he could no longer work on HR issues shortly after he and other agency staff raised concerns about possible racial bias in Kinnison’s hiring decisions.
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PubliCola has filed records requests for the letter sent to Kinnison, which was not included in the public governing board agenda; the cost to hire three outside attorneys; and the final report on the investigation, also not included in the public agenda packet.
Staffers filed complaints against Kinnison after she proposed creating two new executive positions, with salaries of $200,000, and directly hiring two white men to fill them, including one who was reportedly allowed to write his own job description. Staff questioned whether these two new top-level positions were necessary at a time when the KCRHA could be facing significant cuts lower on the agency’s org chart. They also argued that if the new positions were truly necessary, there were qualified people of color already working at the agency who could take on those jobs.
Deputy KCRHA CEO Simon Foster raised similar concerns in an email to Kinnison, writing that “[b]ringing on additional high salaried executive roles during this time may compromise our fiscal credibility and sustainability.”
Additionally, Foster wrote, the hires could call into question KCRHA’s “commitment to equity, not just in outcomes, but in process and leadership composition.”
At least one of the four complainants—Xochitl Maykovich, who left the agency last month—accused Kinnison of retaliation, which was the subject of disciplinary letter Kinnison received.
Only King County Councilmember Jorge Barón voted against Kinnison’s slap-on-the-wrist discipline, saying, “I agree with the personnel committee’s assessment that disciplinary action is warranted. However, I believe further action is warranted and respectfully disagree with the recommended disciplinary action in this motion.” Barón later clarified to PubliCola that he did not mean that Kinnison should be fired, but that the discipline should have gone further than executive coaching and a sternly worded letter.
When do we get to see the letter?
Makes sense, spend $67,000 to hire a coach to teach the CEO how to do their job, while the CEO gets paid a salary of $300k. Sounds like a solid use of tax payer dollars!
Upset about Trump’s attacks on DEI? This is why he’s doing it; the non-white employees don’t want ANY white males hired.