PORT ANGELES — Ousted city Finance Director Yvonne Ziomkowski would be willing to take her old job back, she said Wednesday, the day after former Mayors Glenn Wiggins and Larry Doyle joined a roomful of supporters in an organized effort to urge the City Council to reinstate Ziomkowski.
“I am very, very interested in clearing my name, and I think being reinstated would clear my name,” she said.
“I would like to prove to the community that I deserve to be given another chance and work for this community again.”
Current Mayor Cherie Kidd said at the City Council’s Tuesday night meeting that under state law, the council cannot “hire or fire, or get involved in hiring and firing,” any city employees other than the city manager, who hires all other employees — including the finance director.
Doyle urged the City Council “do the right thing” and rehire Ziomkowski.
“See that Yvonne gets back her deserved spot over there with the rest of the city management team,” Doyle said to sustained applause from the audience.
‘Restore her reputation’
Former Port of Port Angeles Commissioner candidate Corby Somerville of Sequim also said reinstating Ziomkowski would help “restore her reputation.”
Somerville, Doyle and Wiggins cited a Kitsap County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office decision that the 24-year city employee not be charged with crimes related to cashing out three years of unused vacation days and sick leave totaling $28,862, which then-City Manager Kent Myers, who fired her, said violated city policy.
Doyle and Wiggins were City Council members and mayors during Ziomkowski’s tenure.
“I thought she was one of the finest employees this city has ever seen,” Wiggins said.
Retired road construction foreman John Ford of Port Angeles, who also spoke on Ziomkowski’s behalf, said Wednesday he helped organize the City Council meeting turnout by talked to Doyle and other people and “sort of got everybody together.”
“We want her name cleared someway, somehow,” Ford said.
Meetings all day
Interim City Manager Dan McKeen, who attended the City Council meeting, did not return calls for comment Wednesday but said through City Clerk Janessa Hurd that he had meetings all day and had not had time to review comments from Tuesday night’s meeting.
Myers’ last day as city manager was Tuesday, and he left Wednesday for Fredericksburg, Texas, where he will be the new city manager; McKeen is to serve for up to 120 days.
“It’s very important to me during the interim period to maintain continuity with the day-to-day activities and also continue to move forward with programs and projects that are currently in place,” McKeen told the Peninsula Daily News on April 25.
“That doesn’t leave room for anything else.”
In addition, in McKeen’s interim city manager contract, “he agreed there would be no major personnel changes,” City Attorney Bill Bloor said Wednesday afternoon.
Myers hired Byron Olson, Sunnyside deputy city manager and chief financial officer, to serve as the interim finance director for up to six months beginning May 17.
Cash-outs
Ziomkowski was among 11 city employees, including Myers and McKeen, who received cash-outs since 2003 that exceeded limits set by city policy.
Myers said in an earlier interview that his overdraw of $1,442 for 20 hours in 2009 was an accident and repaid the leave in December.
McKeen’s overpayment of $11,431 for 237 hours of leave in 2007 was second only to the amount overdrawn by Ziomkowski, who was allowed to keep $32,867 in overpayments.
McKeen was allowed to keep his overpayment because it was approved by then-City Manager Mike Quinn.
Myers fired Ziomkowski on March 15 for violating city policy for cashing out the vacation and sick days.
State Patrol investigation
A subsequent State Patrol investigation recommended that Ziomkowski be charged with eight crimes, including felony first-degree theft, claiming Ziomkowski “took advantage” of a system she controlled as finance director and that lacked oversight.
Kitsap County Deputy Prosecuting Jonathan Salamas rejected the State Patrol’s recommendation on charging Ziomkowski.
Salamas said in an April 20 interview that “it is unlikely that a jury or fact-finder would conclude that Ziomkowski acted intentionally beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Salamas, citing a state Auditor’s Office report that criticized the city for cash-outs taken by Ziomkowski and other city employees, blamed the city for “unclear policies and inadequate controls” and said no employees intentionally did anything wrong.
City policy
Under current city policy, employees can cash out 80 hours of leave a year.
“I was under the impression that there were totally two separate policies, one on the limit of cash-outs, and this was 80 hours,” Ziomkowski said Wednesday.
“The other one was a catch-up provision,” she said.
“This was a practice that was at the city for many years.”
Port Angeles lawyer Karen Unger, representing Ziomkowski, was in Florida on Wednesday awaiting a jury verdict on a case she is working on, she said.
Ziomkowski’s situation “has not been on my radar,” Unger said Wednesday.
“As soon as I get back in town, I’ll see what’s going on on that front.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
