Thurston County Board of Health directs staff to negotiate hire of health officer candidate

The Thurston County Board of Health on April 14 voted to give staff direction to negotiate an employment offer with an applicant for the county health officer position after a one-hour executive session.

The board went into executive session citing RCW 42.30.110(1)(g), the state law that allows governing bodies to evaluate applicants for public employment. The executive session lasted 60 minutes and concluded at about 3:35 p.m., at which time Chair Harvey was excused from the meeting.

After the session, a board member moved “to give direction to [Dr.] Freiheit to proceed with making an offer in negotiating employment with Dr. Tim.” The motion was seconded and the board voted in favor. The motion passed; the transcript records members saying “aye” with no recorded nays or abstentions and does not list individual roll-call votes.

A county staff member speaking on behalf of the county manager thanked the board for the unanimous direction and said, “we look forward to taking these next steps for our community.” The staff member also thanked Dr. Jennifer Freiheit for her leadership. Dr. Freiheit responded, “No. Thank you all for coming together for this special meeting. I really appreciate the time and great work ahead. I'm excited.”

The action taken was procedural direction to begin negotiations; the transcript does not record a formal appointment, a signed employment contract, or a public announcement of terms. The board used the executive-session authority in state statute to evaluate qualifications before directing staff to negotiate. No further details about the candidate’s background, salary, start date, or the names of the motion mover and seconder were specified in the public transcript.

The board adjourned immediately after the action.