Kittitas County commissioners approve returning BoCC office behind auditorium; direct staff to log employee‑performance letter

At its Jan. 26, 2026, Office Administration meeting the Kittitas County Board of Commissioners agreed to relocate the Board of County Commissioners office back to its former location behind the county auditorium and to make the current commissioners' office space available for Misdemeanant Probation to move from the Morris Sorenson Building.

Patti Stacey, Facilities Maintenance Director, requested official direction on the relocation. The Board agreed and asked staff to place the topic on next Monday’s Office Administration meeting agenda to finalize a timeline for the move. No formal motion or vote is recorded in the minutes for the relocation item; the minutes record the Board’s agreement and a staff follow‑up assignment.

Separately, the Board recessed into multiple short executive sessions under RCW 42.30.110(g) (as referenced in the minutes) to evaluate applicant qualifications or to review the performance of a public employee; Chief Civil Deputy Prosecutor Stephanie Hartung attended the executive sessions. The minutes note the statutory limitation that final action on hiring, salary setting or discipline must occur in open session under RCW 42.30.140(4).

When the Board reconvened at 9:56 a.m., the minutes record that the Board directed staff to place a letter addressed to Commissioner Cory Wright on the Commissioners' Office Correspondence Log for the following week; the letter relates to an employee performance concern, per the minutes. The minutes do not record further detail about the contents of the letter or any personnel action taken at the meeting.

Staff will return the office relocation topic to the next Office Administration meeting with a request to finalize a timeline; administrative staff were also directed to add the correspondence letter to the log for next week.