The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to censure Supervisor Michelle Bushnell after an outside investigation sustained allegations that she “raised her voice, spoke in a hostile manner and cursed” at two employees in May.
The largely symbolic gesture that basically amounts to the board making a public statement of disapproval about the Second District representative’s conduct required a two-thirds vote to pass.
On a separate item brought forward by Supervisor Steve Madrone, the board also voted 3-1 — with Supervisor Rex Bohn dissenting — to remove Bushnell as chair for the remaining meetings of her term and to ask the civil grand jury “to review Bushnell’s conduct and to provide recommendations on changes to be considered for the Board of Supervisors Code of Conduct.”
An additional recommendation to strip the Southern Humboldt resident of her various board and committee assignments was not included in the motion. Bushnell abstained from both votes.
Before the censure vote, Bushnell said she was “regretful of the incident that happened,” and at one point she addressed the employees directly, saying, “I wish I would have handled it differently.”
“In no way should I ever make an employee feel uncomfortable at work,” Bushnell said, noting she was “very loud” after she “felt wronged,” not only impacting the employees she was interacting with, but others in surrounding offices.
She said that while not an excuse, she has a “fight or flight” response from trauma related to a past abusive relationship and it’s something she works “hard to overcome.”
The items before the board on Tuesday were based on an inquiry conducted by Kramer Workplace Investigations after two separate complaints were lodged with the county’s director of Human Resources on May 6 and May 7, alleging Bushnell had violated the board’s code of conduct, according to the staff report.
According to a two-page executive summary from Kramer Workplace Investigations dated Aug. 27, the Danville-based law firm interviewed six witnesses and found “credible evidence” that “more likely than not, Bushnell accused a county employee of being a liar approximately five times, yelled at her and did not give her an opportunity to speak.”
In addition, according to the summary, the investigation found “sufficient credible evidence was presented to establish that more likely than not, Bushnell accused another county employee of disloyalty, became angry and yelled and cursed at her, and slammed her door shut as she left her office.”
“Witnesses who overheard this incident corroborated that Bushnell was the aggressor, and reported hearing Bushnell cussing, yelling and slamming the door,” the summary states.
The investigation has cost just under $8,500 to date and was paid out of the liability fund, according to the county staff report. But, the report states, additional invoices are still expected and “will cause the liability charges for the Board of Supervisors budget to increase, by how much is unknown at this time.”
After hearing from four members of the public, who each spoke about Bushnell’s dedication to the job and commitment to her constituents, several supervisors noted the censure decision before them that day was not about Bushnell’s service but to address a specific incident and protect county employees.
Supervisor Mike Wilson said interactions like those outlined in the investigation “can have chilling effects” on a workplace, leaving county employees feeling threatened and concerned about their jobs.
He also noted it was not “the only time it’s occurred.”
Exactly three years ago, Bushnell faced admonishment for a similar situation with a staff member, in that case over the issuance of a cannabis permit on behalf of a constituent. At that time, the board chose not to move ahead with the censure, with several supervisors citing her efforts to address the incident, including attending trainings.
During discussion on the item that he brought forward to take further actions beyond the censure, Madrone said he appreciated that Bushnell was taking responsibility and believed she was sincere in her comments about being sorry but also noted this wasn’t a “one and done thing.”
Madrone also said he has also witnessed Bushnell exhibit similar behavior toward “staff, the public and community partners” on other occasions.
“I have a growing, increasing concern over that pattern of bullying, intimidation and retaliatory conduct and abusive treatment of others,” Madrone said, adding he’s not saying it happens all the time or was intentional.
He also noted Bushnell’s has raised issues with the process unanimously approved by the board in 2022 during her tenure, saying, “the most transparent and appropriate to address that” was through a referral to the civil grand jury.
The revamped procedures have employee grievances reviewed by a three-person committee consisting of the county administrative officer, county counsel and the human resources director, who then decide by a two-thirds consensus whether a formal investigation should be launched.
If an investigation substantiates the underlying allegations, as was the case here, that’s reported to the board in open session. Previously, such grievances were brought to the board of supervisors first in public session, which the board and staff said raised confidentiality concerns.
Bushnell has retained an attorney to challenge the proceedings against her and the board also met in closed session Tuesday over “anticipated litigation” regarding her due process concerns. No action was reported out.
After Madrone’s comments, an obviously emotional Bushnell responded by asking, “Can the board decide what it’s going to do?”
As the discussion continued, there was a general agreement to have the grand jury review the board’s code of conduct procedures.
“We did the job of making this process, but I think it needs to be amended and it needs to be revised,” Wilson said, saying the way it works now basically has a political board performing human resource duties.
He noted that if a county employee in a managerial position had acted in a manner outlined in the investigation, they would have been “given administrative leave right away.”
He also said human resources had made two recommendations for Bushnell in the wake of the most recent situation, with one of those “partly done and the other completely ignored.”
That, Wilson said, would not be an option for employees.
As reported today by Ryan Burns of Lost Coast Outpost, Bushnell was informed in a May 9 email from Human Resources Director Zach O’Hanen, County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes and Interim County Counsel Scott Miles that they had determined an investigation into the complaints filed against her was needed.
The email advised her to take two courses of action in the interim: to step down as chair and to only contact the employees via email.
According to the story, Bushnell said she inquired whether stepping down was required and was told no.
“I said, OK, I’m going to choose not to, because this is not the norm for me,” the article quoted her as saying. “I don’t react this way.”
Wilson also said the long timeline between the incident and the action being taken that day in response, “leaves employees vulnerable,” and is why employees don’t make complaints against supervisors for fear of what might happen or not happen.
Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said she felt the process in place was “clunky” and places the staff responsible for reviewing whether to initiate an investigation into a supervisor’s conduct in a “very awkward position.”
She said maybe the better path would be to “refer all matters like this to the grand jury in the future.”
Bohn said he was “all in favor of taking the process to the grand jury to look at” but didn’t want to “drag this out any longer” and was not in favor of having Bushnell’s conduct included in the grand jury referral.
Saying there was “no doubt a problem and no doubt a situation that did not need to happen,” he said he would support asking Bushnell to step down as chair for the remainder of her term.
“This is not a process. This is a very slow death by a thousand cuts,” Bohn said, adding, “I’m going through this myself right now, before someone leaks it out.”
Arroyo said she believed it was important to include Bushnell’s conduct in the grand jury referral to provide context on the concerns she’s raised about the process.
With some continued back and forth over what to include in the motion, Bushnell asked for the board to make a decision, saying, “I’m going to tell you guys, respectfully, that I need to get off the dias.”
In the end the motion to remove Bushnell as chair and refer her conduct and the board’s code of conduct to the civil grand jury for review was passed, with Bohn voting “no.”
In a social media post on Wednesday, Bushnell said she understood the board’s decision and takes “responsibility for the part I played in the incident that brought us here,” but noted she didn’t “agree with all of the findings or with how this process was handled.”
“I’ve retained legal counsel because I believe there is a significant issue with due process — and that matters, not just for me, but the integrity of this board’s procedures going forward,” she wrote.
Bushnell also said she thought it was “unfortunate that some of my colleagues have chosen to go beyond the facts of the investigation and make additional, unsubstantiated claims in public.”
She ended the post by saying her “focus remains on the Second District, who know my commitment to this community.”
“I’m going to keep doing the work I was elected to do — with transparency, professionalism and respect,” Bushnell wrote.