Kittitas County commissioners place employee on administrative leave, authorize HR probe

Kittitas County Board of Commissioners Chairman Cory Wright announced on June 17, 2026, that the board would place an employee on administrative leave and authorize the county’s Human Resources office to initiate an investigation. The action was recorded after a series of executive sessions held between 2:30 p.m. and 3:10 p.m. and is noted in the minutes without a roll-call vote or recorded motion.

The special meeting began at 2:30 p.m. and included multiple short executive-session recesses under state open-meetings law cited in the minutes (RCW 42.30.110(g) and RCW 42.30.140(4)). The minutes list Deputy Prosecutor Therese Murphy, Human Resources Director Jeanne Killgore and, in a later session, Auditor Bryan Elliott as participants in closed deliberations. The record states that earlier executive sessions resulted in no action, and that the board reconvened at 3:10 p.m. before Chairman Wright announced the administrative leave and the authorization for HR to proceed with an investigation.

The minutes repeatedly note that discussions of salaries, wages and other conditions of employment that will be generally applied must occur in an open meeting and that when a governing body elects to take final action on hiring, setting pay, suspending, discharging or disciplining an employee, that action must be taken in a meeting open to the public (citing RCW 42.30.140(4)). The June 17 minutes record the board’s announcement of administrative leave in open session but do not include any motion text, mover/second, or vote tally in the published minutes.

The county’s official minutes list those present at the special meeting as Chairman Cory Wright, Vice-Chairman Brett Wachsmith and Commissioner Laura Osiadacz, with Office Administrator Mandy Buchholz, Deputy Prosecutor Therese Murphy and HR Director Jeanne Killgore also present; Auditor Bryan Elliott is listed as joining a later executive session. The record does not identify the employee or provide additional details about the subject of the investigation.

The board concluded the special meeting at 3:10 p.m. The minutes do not indicate a scheduled follow-up meeting on this item; they instead record only that HR was authorized to initiate an investigation. Further public updates, including any formal personnel action that would require an open meeting, were not specified in the minutes.