Commissioners remove elected officials from new harassment policy

Yamhill County Commissioners on Thursday approved a new policy to prohibit harassment, bullying and discrimination by any county employee, volunteer, intern or contractor. It does not prohibit such behavior by elected officials.

The new policy, required by the Oregon Workplace Fairness Act, replaces a previous one that specifically banned only sexual harassment and discrimination against protected classes.

The policy presented to the commissioners stated that “elected officials, department heads, managers and supervisors are responsible for creating an atmosphere free of discrimination, harassment and sexual assault” and stated that anyone associated with the county must “refrain from engaging in conduct prohibited by this policy.”

However, at the request of Commission Chair Lindsay Berschauer, the board removed elected officials from the policy.

“I think it’s problematic if you start putting people in there that the policy really doesn’t apply to, and instead, start putting something together that would apply to commissioners,” Berschauer said, noting that the county would in any case have no ability to discipline a commissioner who violated the policy.

Berschauer suggested that, instead, the board create a “code of conduct.” She and Commissioner Mary Starrett spent several minutes discussing the importance of transparency regarding officials’ use of travel reimbursement funds.

In 2021, an employee filed a hostile workplace complaint against Berschauer that was found unsubstantiated in part because the county lacked any policy barring commissioners from harassing employees, and in part because the county’s policy for employees at that time specified only sexual harassment.

On Thursday, Berschauer and Starrett noted that the board could, if it wished, vote to censure a commissioner. No such vote was ever held in the earlier case against Berschauer, who, with Starrett, held a voting majority at the time.

“A lot of times these things just become something that sits on the shelf,” Starrett said, adding “If we have to get to a point where we’re outlining how to do things right ... Maybe I just haven’t seen an example of one.”

The 2021 complaint followed months of verbal attacks on staff by Berschauer during discussions of the Yamhelas Westsider Trail. Berschauer’s election campaign was heavily financed by trail opponents, and she made ending the project one of her first priorities once elected.

During public meetings, Berschauer repeatedly accused staff members of malfeasance, incompetence and dishonesty, in many cases for actions that had been approved by the previous board. The employee noted in the complaint that there had been “numerous verbal and written communications between the county administrator and Ms. Berschauer concerning Yamhill County policies and procedures for complaints involving staff,” but that Berschauer had ignored them, instead airing her allegations publicly, and repeating them even after being publicly corrected about factual errors.

Attorney Christine Slattery investigated the complaint for the county.

In an executive summary of her findings, she noted that Berschauer denied her actions had been inappropriate.

Slattery wrote that the allegations “do not easily fit into the County’s existing policies and ordinances. As an initial matter, Commissioner Berschauer is an elected official, and there are no existing County ordinances applicable to allegations against a sitting Commissioner regarding harassing, bullying, defamatory, libelous, and/or abusive behavior towards staff.”

Further, she wrote, the conduct wasn’t related to discrimination against any protected class, and there was no allegation that her behavior was sexual in nature. Given those limitations, Slattery wrote, the complaint could not be substantiated.

“These findings should not be read to suggest that Commissioner Berschauer’s conduct ... is beyond reproach,” Slattery wrote.

The employee also alleged that Berschauer had tried to have her fired, but Slattery said she was unable to confirm that.

Commissioners on Thursday did not discuss how harassment of employees by an elected official might be handled.