By Don Nelson
Former Winthrop Deputy Marshal Mark Harreus made another appearance before the Winthrop Town Council at its meeting last week, posing questions about the operation of the Marshal’s Office and other town policies and procedures.
It was the second time that Harreus, who was a probationary employee before he left the Marshal’s Office on Feb. 6, has appeared before the council to ask questions about the Marshal’s Office, town actions and council procedures. In neither instance has the council directly answered Harreus’ questions.
The council did agree to a request by Harreus that discussion of whether the council should record its meetings be placed on the council agenda. At last week’s meeting, Harreus reiterated his suggestion that the meetings should be recorded as a matter of transparency and accountability. He also said town employees should be required to check and respond to phone and email messages and reply promptly.
Harreus said he has tried on several occasions to contact the mayor, council members and Marshal Rikki Schwab, but has often gotten no response or a delayed response.
Harreus was hired in October 2014. He had previously been a police officer in Alaska, Washington state and Nebraska. He had been suspended, with pay, since Jan. 14, before leaving the job on Feb. 6.
Harreus had filed an Improper Government Action report — more familiarly known as a “whistleblower” report — with Mayor Sue Langdalen on Jan. 9. In that report, Harreus said he was “concerned that we are operating under conditions creating immediate and severe safety risk and financial waste.” He said in the report that he had earlier approached Schwab with some of the concerns “but these process improvements were unwelcome and I fear I have been misinterpreted as a thorn.”
Harreus would not say whether he was fired or resigned. In an email, he said: “On Feb. 5, the Town extended a ‘settlement’ to me, which essentially said that I would get a fair amount of money in exchange for no ‘discipline’ and an agreement to withdraw my Safety Risk and Financial Waste report, make no statements about this agreement, hold the Town harmless, and not make any public disclosure requests. I declined their offer. Feb. 6 was my last day with the Marshal’s Office. … I feel it is the Mayor and the Marshal’s responsibility to state why I am no longer there.”
Langdalen and Schwab have declined to comment on what they say is a personnel issue with the potential for litigation.
At last week’s Town Council meeting, Harreus raised questions about hiring procedures (including his own — he said the town did not do a credit check on him), fiscal accountability in the Marshal’s Office, use of town-owned computers and cell phones for private purposes, “perks” such as club memberships, and how the Marshal’s office screens phone calls.
Harreus came with a longer list of questions, but was limited to five minutes in the public comment portion of the meeting.
In his earlier “whistleblower” report, Harreus raised several issues. He said the estimated cost of parking service vehicles at a remote location (at one time, Aero Methow Rescue Services headquarters in Twisp) would be more than $10,000 annually. He cited instances where he maintained that public safety was at risk because of the time required to retrieve patrol vehicles.
Harreus said that anticipated taser training had never been scheduled and enrollment in the Police Training Academy had been deferred, which he said potentially exposed the department to legal risks.
Harreus also maintained that the tires on the town’s two recently purchased police vehicles — 4-wheel-drive pickup trucks — were inadequate for winter use and could fail, potentially causing delays in response time. He also said the department was not securely storing some of its weapons in patrol vehicles, and they could be stolen or accidentally discharged.
Harreus also said that Schwab’s policy that officers can be as far away as Omak and be considered “on call” could cause safety issues because of delayed response time from that distance.
In her response in a Feb. 3 memo to Harreus, Langdalen responded to each of Harreus’ points, concluding that the patrol car parking discussion was addressed “over three weeks before your report was issued, and a new policy is being formulated.” She said she “did not find any substantiation of improper government issues” on any of the other points, while acknowledging that new gun safety procedures had been implemented as a result of the gun storage issue raised by Harreus.
Langdalen said that the practice of permanently parking patrol cars outside of town limits has been halted and a new policy is being drawn up.
“Previously, the [deputies’ shared] patrol vehicle had been parked at the home of Deputy Harreus,” Langdalen said. “This became an issue when Deputy [Ken] Bajema alleged that he would go to pick up the truck from Deputy Harreus and that Deputy Harreus would verbally harass him at the door.”
Langdalen said that it had been decided that Harreus’ taser training would be delayed until he was off probation, and that the Police Training Academy session had been cancelled “because of an impending internal investigation.”
Langdalen said she was unable to determine any safety issues with the trucks’ tires, which she said are “brand new all-season tires, which have been siped.” As for the on-call duty location, Langdalen said that “I do not believe this to be an issue. Deputies have been asked to remain within a reasonable distance from town while on-call and Marshal Schwab feels as though Omak is within a reasonable distance.”
Harreus cited an email in which Langdalen asked him if he had shown the whistleblower report to Schwab. He said town policy, as he understands it, is that such reports should be kept confidential from his direct supervisor.
The town’s municipal code reads, in part: “Where the employee reasonably believes the improper governmental action involves his or her supervisor, the employee may raise the issue directly with the town mayor or such other person as may be designated by the town to receive reports of improper governmental action.”
Asked about the motivation for his continuing interest in the Marshal’s Office and Town Council, Harreus said in a email: “Simply put, I am doing this because people need to know what is going on; politics, drama, and self-serving ‘perks’ are not what makes for good service to the community.”
