Attorney bows out of whistleblower issue

Chief Deputy County Attorney Lance Payette will no longer be involved with the public works department, as the whistleblower complaint filed against County Manager James Jayne has also led to allegations against him.

“Your comments concerning this issue are totally inappropriate, and I am asking that the County Attorney’s office remove themselves from this issue,” Interim Public Works Director Dusty Parsons wrote to Payette in a March 21 memo. “I will also be requesting that the State Bar investigate your behavior in this matter. I am also asking that you do not play any role in providing any other attorney your advice or opinion on this issue.”

Prior to Parsons’ request that Payette be removed from the issue, Payette sent an e-mail to Jayne March 8 saying, “I am now in the impossible position (for an attorney) of having spoken with just about everyone involved in this situation and of being sympathetic to the views of those who believe that there is at least a good faith basis for a whistleblower complaint--I certainly can’t tell them that there isn’t a basis or they shouldn’t file one--yet still trying to give sound advice to you and the board.”

Payette added that the county attorney’s office can typically give advice to all sides on an issue, because “at the most fundamental level we represent the county, or the interests of the taxpayers, rather than the board or any official or department.” He noted that with this situation, however, the point had been reached where he felt a conflict of interest had developed, and that he should remove himself from the situation.

One of the biggest concerns Parsons addressed in his memo to Payette was Payette’s meeting with Acting County Engineer Dick Young earlier in March.

During the meeting, Payette reportedly told Young that he should rethink his signing of the recommendation that Young and Parsons had given to the supervisors regarding the public works director position.

“Dick’s (Young) comment to me was that you said, ‘Why did you sign the recommendation?’ Then you proceeded to tell him that any protection he had under the Whistleblower Act had been taken away with his signing the document. He also said that you told him he was being set up and there was some kind of move to fire him,” Parsons wrote.

“Since March 8, I’ve certainly spoken with a number of employees in public works about the whistleblower complaint, and the event surrounding it,” Payette said. “I think I’ve made it clear that I’ve done this as a fellow employee, a friend and someone who understands the concerns being expressed. I don’t think that any of these discussions have risen to the level of legal advice or that anyone thinks that I’m acting as the whistleblowers’ attorney.”

Payette explained that the role of a deputy county attorney is to advise the board, county officials and employees about various law requirements, and to help them comply with the requirements.

“I also have my rights. I am a county employee. I am a resident and a taxpayer,” noted Payette. “Apart from any legal issues, I have been puzzled and disappointed by the way that the termination of Bill Cox and the search for the new public works director has been handled.”

Parsons’ memo noted that he was also considering asking the supervisors to act on Payette’s behavior, as he believed that Payette’s behavior as a managing agent for the county presented “a very difficult and discriminatory situation.”

“I will not continue to be attacked by you or any other employee in this organization,” Parsons said. “I have done nothing inappropriate and have just tried to do my job.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that all of the controversy could have been avoided if everything in the entire sequence of events leading to the whistleblower complaint had been handled openly, honestly, credibly and with full involvement by the full Board of Supervisors,” Payette said. “This is my perspective as a county employee and resident.”

According to County Attorney Mel Bowers, the situation began when his office received a letter of complaint against Jayne March 11 charging mismanagement and abuse of authority.

The letter, signed by 16 members of the public works department, stated, “In the past eight months, a number of events have come to play out in a manner that provokes questions as to the intentions of the county manager regarding the public works department.”

The Navajo County Board of Supervisors entered into an executive session March 14 to discuss the accusation, and upon returning from executive session, announced that an investigation was not warranted, but that Jayne would no longer be included in the search process for a public works director.

A new attorney has also been assigned to public works, and Payette was not involved in the March 14 executive session with the supervisors regarding the original whistleblower complaint.

“Until I felt I had an actual conflict of interest, I did my best to inform Jimmy (Jayne) of the concerns of the employees of public works and of the possible legal issues,” Payette said. “To prevent any further confusion, however, I will officially bow out of any further involvement in these matters, whether as an attorney, co-worker or friend.”

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