The Port of Olympia Commission halted public discussion of Port Executive Director Sam Gibboney’s performance review during a meeting on Monday, April 10, in the wake of Commissioner Amy Evans Harding’s open letter regarding Gibboney.
Harding, during the start of the meeting, motioned to amend the meeting’s agenda to include a discussion regarding Gibboney. The proposed amendment to the agenda failed as none of the other two commissioners seconded Harding’s motion.
Harding wanted to open a discussion about Gibboney after the executive director allegedly attempted to alter her final performance review during an executive session held on March 27, according to Harding’s statement published on The JOLT.
As the commission was getting to commissioner reports, Commissioner Bob Iyall motioned to adjourn the meeting, which Commissioner Joe Downing seconded. This section of the meeting is where commissioners would occasionally have additional discussions on matters outside their agenda.
The Port Commission has been conducting a review of Gibboney’s performance after a series of issues surrounding the leadership in the Port. In June last year, 22 port employees wrote a letter of no confidence to Gibboney, citing various workplace issues such as micromanagement, inadequate communication, and a high employee turnover rate in the last three years.
Six recent separation agreements with previous employees have also cost the Port around $200,000 in payouts.
Harding, who was absent during the March 27 meeting, said that Gibboney presented to the commission a redlined document outlining suggested changes to her final performance review. The supposed changes included alterations to her score, such as a score of 1.8 becoming a 3 and a score of 3 becoming a 5.
In her statement, Harding said that Gibboney proposed these changes as a modified version of her review would “better serve the organization” and that it would “further a narrative.” Harding believed that Gibboney’s suggestions indicated “an intent to deceive the public.”
“Her choice to do this is stunning and an overreach of her authority,” Harding wrote. “It demonstrates a lack of understanding of our role as both her supervisor and as the body of elected officials, an inability to be coached, a lack of professional judgment, and a violation of trust.”
Gibboney said, through the Port’s communication team, that she appreciated Harding’s comments.
"I appreciate the commissioner's feedback about the performance review process, and I look forward to completing the evaluation with the commission as a whole at a future date," she stated.
Sought for comment, the other two commissioners said they were not able to talk about the topic as the content of executive sessions is protected by the Revised Code of Washington.
Downing did however say that he found no reason to believe that the performance review was being conducted untruthfully.
“I have no basis to surmise that any performance reviews at the Port are being conducted untruthfully,” he said. “ I have an expectation that every supervisor has been trained in how to conduct fair and honest performance reviews.”
Harding had wanted to discuss what took place at the March 27 meeting as early as last week when the Port Commission had an agenda-setting meeting.
Harding had asked the other two commissioners if the document related to an employee’s performance review was updated and final. Downing told her that they were not able to publicly discuss the topic outside the executive session.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the date of the executive session as April 27. We regret the error.
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AugieH
Why is this catfight between Harding and Gibboney considered reportable news?
Thursday, April 13, 2023 Report this
psterry
Because for one thing, the Port has been accused for years of not facing up to its problems. How many employees have to quit or sue the Port at taxpayers' expense before people get angry? Catfight? Well, perhaps it takes a woman with some ... (courage) to bring this persistent problem to the attention of taxpayers. I'll take transparency any day of the week.
Friday, April 14, 2023 Report this
longtimeresident
The article could have just said that there were internal problems between staff and management, but also state (very important), that monies have been paid out to employees who have left because of the turmoil going on. The state office I worked for many, many years ago, had to finally have consultants come in from the outside, to resolve issues. The person causing the problems eventually left; I don't know if it was of her own initiative or she was asked to find another job.
Friday, April 14, 2023 Report this
BevBassett
I attended most Port Commission meetings and Study Sessions for a total of four years ending in 2017. It was my personal experience that the Port of Olympia suppressed honest information about most all of the Port's questionable business practices, including inaccurate financial accounting and generalized shadiness of actions.
Information has been deliberately withheld by the Port, even when legally requested, as there has been no corrective oversight from any state agency other than the State Auditor's office a few times when their accounting practices were grossly incorrect. Legal actions against the Port have resulted in multi-million dollar settlements, at times; that has been the only way to get the Port to act legally in my experience of the Port going back about 10 years since i began watching them.
I personally witnessed the mean undermining and harassment of Commissioner Sue Gunn which culminated in Commissioner Gunn's being forced from office because she was unable to attend meetings in person for a period of 6 or 8 weeks after heart surgery which had a longer recovery period than was legally allowed.
I witnessed the harassment of EJ Zita as well. Watching the Port in action as they harassed the two female commissioners who fought for more ethical and financially sound Port actions, I saw concerted undermining by Commissioners Downing and McGreggor--as well as systematic harassment and undermining by both Port staff and by members of the longshore union--of both female commissioners until they were both actively pushed out.
And now we have a third female commissioner, Amy Evans Harding, who is being suppressed and silenced when she attempts to bring some integrity of action to the Port of Olympia.
A majority vote of two commissioners can, has, and continues to silence the minority vote commissioner. A minority commissioner is powerless to make positive change in that deeply corrupt agency that is the Port of Olympia. Public pressure to fire Gibboney has gotten nowhere over time.
There has been evidence over the several years of ED Gibboney's employment at the Port, factual and anecdotal from people who watch the-Port, and from information in the local press, that the Executive Director Sam Gibboney has acted dishonestly and unprofessionally in the performance of her job. There is the letter signed by dozens of Port employees stating they lack confidence in her leadership because of the unethical and unacceptable things Gibboney has done. There is obviously a big problem at the Port with management by the Executive Director.
Our elected Commissioners Joe Downing and Bob Iyall, by their actions, have demonstrated that they approve of a director who acts in ways that are unethical and immoral--or they'd have replaced her long ago. Looks obvious to me that she’s doing their dirty work.
Friday, April 14, 2023 Report this
JW
The corrupt Port is an unmitigated disaster.
Friday, April 14, 2023 Report this