SOUTH BEND — “We don’t want this,” a group of citizens shouted at the Pacific County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) during a Dec. 26 meeting. Dozens spoke during a comment period regarding Resolution No. 2024-056, which proposed the separation of the Pacific County Jail from the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO).

Commissioners Lisa Olsen, Jerry Doyle and David Tobin were present for the meeting, which was standing-room-only after around 60-70 citizens flooded the room. Tensions were high, and an attendee who later spoke with the Observer said, “Oh man, was it intense. It was uncomfortable.”

The meeting was held eight days after Pacific County General Administration Chief Administrative Officer Paul Plakinger informed Sheriff Daniel Garcia about the proposal during a Dec. 18 workshop about the jail.

Over the past week and a half, as Garcia mounted a vigorous campaign against the proposal, some citizens said they felt “betrayed, backdoored, and ignored.”

Garcia held town halls throughout the county from Dec. 21-23. Around 200 residents attended in person and several hundred online. The total public attendance in person for the town halls equates to 1.7% of the 11,644 votes cast in the 2022 sheriff’s race and 3% of the 6,498 votes cast for Garcia.

“The rationale presented to me was to mitigate risks to the county government,” Garcia said in a letter to county administration. “I do not dispute that correctional facilities carry some of the highest risks to all counties, but there is no one more qualified than the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the county to mitigate these risks.”

“There are far more fiscally responsible and operationally efficient options available. For example, I would welcome the County Commissioners’ funding and hiring a Risk Manager assigned directly to the sheriff’s office due to the nuances and specificity of risk unique to a sheriff’s office compared to County Departments,” Garcia added.

Motion on deck

Two minutes into the Dec. 26 meeting, Tobin read into the official record the proposal to create a department of corrections titled Pacific County Jail Services, followed by a 20-minute statement from Plakinger.

Since 2022, two inmates have died inside the jail on Dec. 13, 2022, and Oct. 7 of this year. The county and its insurer — Washington Counties Risk Pool — face mounting legal and settlement costs.

The first death was attributed to a combination of the inmate’s health and negligence by a corrections officer. The details surrounding the most recent death are still not entirely known, and it has been thus far ruled a suicide.

According to Plakinger, the previous and current sheriffs’ handling of the deaths is a significant reason why he submitted the proposal. For instance, former sheriff Robin Souvenir immediately placed the corrections officer on leave after the Dec. 13, 2022, incident, and Garcia decided to bring her back to work.

Plakinger and the county learned she was back at work during an incident in which the courthouse was left unlocked on June 19, 2023, and corrections officers had to secure the building. Once the situation was addressed, Plakinger called the jail and was “surprised” when the corrections officer who answered the phone was the woman who he believed was still on a mandatory leave.

“Sheriff Garcia brought the employee in question back to work with full knowledge they were still on paid administrative leave and being investigated in relation to the death,” Plakinger said.

“Shortly thereafter, I alerted the Pacific County risk manager and called the county from the risk manager’s office. A sergeant answered the phone, and I inquired if the employee in question was working a shift that day in the jail,” Plakinger added.

The sergeant was told to escort the employee off the premises.

“Within an hour, I received a telephone call from Sheriff Garcia, who disagreed with the action I took to have his employee removed from courthouse grounds,” Plakinger said, “insisting that I had no right to do so and that I should never do it again.”

“I stated to Sheriff Garcia that I took the appropriate action and that I hoped that he would never put me in that position again due to the immense liability he had caused Pacific County by bringing back the individual,” Plakinger said.

Sticking points

The other issues pointed out by Plakinger were a lack of communication between the jail and county risk management and the differences between the decisions made between Souvenir and Garcia following the inmate’s deaths. Souvenir immediately called for outside investigators from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the death on Dec. 13, 2022.

Garcia’s administration chose to initiate an in-house “internal investigation” of the Oct. 7 death through at least Oct. 15. Garcia stated at a town hall that he later pulled in investigators from the Grays Harbor Sheriff’s Office after the public raised concerns. He asserted he was told his agency did well with its initial investigation.

Public records requests into the Oct. 7 death investigation have been steadily denied because it is an “active investigation,” which state law RCW 42.56.240 exempts from disclosure. The Washington Counties Risk Pool has also been unable to obtain footage of the incident.

Under Washington state law, an unexpected fatality review panel is mandated to be called together, and a formal report is to be completed within 120 days of an in-custody death. A panel has yet to be called together for the first jail death.

The sheriff’s office has alleged that the county general administration asked for it to be delayed so as not to “move the zeros” in the wrongful death lawsuit. Plakinger argues this is a bald-faced lie, although no records exist to back up either side.

The lawsuit was recently settled for $2.9 million.

Public goes off

Only a few attendees at the Dec. 26 meeting, including Jordan and Jennifer Manchester of Ilwaco, spoke neutrally, asking everyone to slow down.

Jerry Phillips, a former mayor of Long Beach, was the only attendee who spoke out in direct favor of the commissioners. He said he didn’t believe that Garcia “works well” with other law enforcement agencies — which he said he observed while mayor.

Another who spoke out in favor of the commissioners said they voted for Garcia and felt that the sheriff’s office has been “intimidating” lately, especially in town halls, with on-duty personnel attending in full tactical uniforms. Another called the recent behavior and town halls “controlling the narrative.”

Garcia apologized for making anyone feel intimidated and even called for peace at the meeting multiple times.

Other attendees overwhelmingly opposed the separation and some called for the commissioners to be recalled. A common theme was that the proposal was ill-intended and didn’t “pass the smell test.”

“I know two of you commissioners…,” Raymond resident Dewey Adair said. “I am going to address you as commissioners and not as people I know as friends, okay? This is [bullshit], do your job and make it go away. We elected Daniel Garcia knowing what his job was: no more garbage behind our backs, make it go away!”

Multiple speakers vowed to initiate a recall effort to remove the commissioners and appoint officials who would uphold the voters’ wishes.

In our state, the first major hurdle for recall efforts is obtaining enough petition signatures. In a county with fewer than 40,000 residents, the threshold is 35% of all votes cast for that office.

Based on the 2024 election results for Olsen and Tobin, that would be in the range of 3,469-4,735 signatures.

Once signatures are acquired, a formal complaint must be filed with the Superior Court to determine if the allegations meet state statutes. The statute that persons targeted for recall must have engaged in conduct that interrupts or interferes with their official duty, committed a crime in their official capacity, or did not uphold their oath of office.

Legal counsel who have spoken with the Observer predict a recall effort will be short-lived because of the number of signatures needed and how unlikely it is for the court to side with a complaint about “management decisions.”

Into the fray

Diane Gruber, a Republican activist from Oysterville, and county GOP Chairwoman Jan Davis were animated at the meeting.

“It’s obvious, you don’t have to be a psychiatrist, to realize that [Mr. Plakinger] has a great deal of animosity for our elected sheriff,” Gruber said. “I’ve never met him before, but that was obvious, and I am a little bit confused because he is proposing that we get rid of an outstanding deputy, [jail supervisor] Cmdr. Michael Parker, to put in a friend of his.”

Plakinger later clarified he did not know James Byrd, a lieutenant at the Grays Harbor County Jail with over 20 years of corrections experience, until the recent process of identifying a new person to lead the jail.

“I don’t see any guarantees that this management is going to guarantee that there [are] no suicides or medical issues in the jail. I don’t quite understand that, and he (Plakinger) hasn’t explained that, and I noticed… roughly 200 people, all together, or no more, 220-230 in this room, and nobody has supported this new proposal,” Gruber asserted.

Gruber and Davis accused the jail separation is a governor-elect ‘Bob Ferguson’ initiative out of Olympia to handicap rural sheriffs who would fight an invasion of the county by an “army” commanded by the incoming governor. The topic was brought up at least twice during the public comment period.

“If somebody from Ferguson’s office, we all know what’s happening there, comes to Pacific County and says, ‘You said something you shouldn’t have,’” Davis said, “they go to Sheriff Garcia, and they say, “Well, we are gonna have to do something with one of your citizens; they said something we don’t like.”

“He says, ‘Well gosh, where does, where is that in the constitution?’ Sheriff Garcia said he will never, never arrest any of us for any of those unconstitutional, lawless crap coming out of Olympia,” Davis said.

Rita Hall, a Republican candidate who lost to Tobin during the 2024 election cycle, said the Naselle Youth Camp closure has resulted in “more youth on death row.” Her statement wasn’t explained. The logic may have been that if the jail failed under the board’s oversight, the jail would close and lead to more lawlessness.

Chief criminal deputy speaks up

Sheriff’s office and jail employees also spoke up during the meeting. Detective Cory Nacnac was overtly critical of Plakinger and county Risk Manager Marie Guernsey. Deputy Rafael Macintosh was also involved in a speech-off and stare-down with the commission.

“I think, Paul, it’s a basic professional courtesy that you could have reached out to me if this affects patrol, and even more basic professional courtesy, you could have reached out to Cmdr. Parker and the sheriff,” PCSO Chief Criminal Deputy Randy Wiegardt said. “That is extremely disrespectful not to do that.”

“I am against this; I want to make it clear that I am against [making] this happen today. I would sit down at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning to discuss this in a heartbeat. To talk about how mortality rates in the jail have gone up 11% in Washington state as of 2019, how is that his fault? That’s society’s fault; it’s not the sheriff’s fault that mortality rates have gone up,” Wiegardt added.

Sheriff speaks

Garcia spoke near the end of the comment period and calmly iterated his points. He also ensured order during the meeting multiple times when the room showed signs of unruliness and asked for everyone to be cordial. This did not succeed with deputies Nacnac and Macintosh, who were allowed to square off with the commissioners, including one interruption.

Garcia’s key talking points included changes made by his administration in the jail, including better health care, upgrading corrections officers’ personal protection, and improving the overall morale of the employees. The corrections officers issued a statement on Dec. 22 voicing a desire to stay in the sheriff’s office.

More Information

More Information

Jail Funding:

Former Sheriff Robin Souvenir’s 2019-2022 budgets ranged between $1.63 million and $1.79 million.

Current Sheriff Daniel Garcia’s 2023-2024 budgets ranged between $2.66 million and $2.97 million.

Patrol Funding:

Souvenir’s 2019-2022 budgets ranged between $1.63 million and $1.85 million.

Garcia’s 2023-2024 budgets ranged between $2.47 million and $2.77 million.

Garcia’s 2025 budget is $3.1 million.

“We have gained a whole lot of momentum; there is still more to do,” Garcia said. “If you leave it under me, we will continue to do those things, and I will continue to be transparent about where we are at and where we are sitting and continue to chip away at all of these things.”

Garcia said he regularly contacts the county’s risk pool, including proposing that the county fund a jail-specific risk manager.

“The sheriff has a direct relationship with the [Washington Counties] Risk Pool,” PCSO Chief Civil Deputy Hollie Billeci said. “He spoke with Ken Coleman at the risk pool on Monday [Dec. 23], who endorsed the idea and gave permission to publicly state such.”

Garcia also reiterated the claim the unexpected fatality review panel for the Dec. 13, 2022, was delayed at the request of the general administration to “save zeroes.”

As has been the case in other recent public appearances, Garcia said in his closing argument that his agency is underfunded and needs more staff. He requested two additional deputies and corrections officers for 2025, which were not funded.

The vote

Going into the meeting, it was expected the commissioners would side with Plakinger’s assessment that the jail has become too big of a liability under Garcia. Separating the jail from the sheriff’s office has been discussed since at least early 2023.

All three commissioners provided statements during the meeting, which were apparently written in advance of the meeting — some indication of how they were about to vote.

Key points outlined included the jail’s high risk of liability, lack of cooperation from the sheriff’s office, and noting the county has poured money into the jail and sheriff’s office, including $1.3 million for jail upgrades and largest budgets.

“Among our many concerns is the fact we could lose our ability to be insured should the risk pool decide to no longer cover us as a result of the issues in the jail, and they could; it’s been discussed,” Tobin said. “Such a decision would impact more than just the jail.”

“The cost to insure the county would cause a closure of the jail, which we don’t want to. Closing the jail was, in fact, another option which we rejected because it would put staff in the jail out of work, cause many difficulties and expenses to our cities, tribes, and others who make use of the jail facility, and it would cost significant layoffs in all departments putting many of core services in jeopardy,” Tobin added.

According to the commissioners, there have been discussions behind the scenes about the jail’s liability that cannot be publicly discussed, including in closed-door sessions. The Washington County Risk Pool reportedly is prepared to remove the county’s insurance if another incident, even minor, transpires inside the jail.

All three commissioners voted to pass the resolution. The public attending in person lashed out at the commissioners, asking, “Why didn’t you listen to us?” Garcia was observed dropping his head and shaking it.

The separation means that Parker, the current jail head, will be let go effective Jan. 1, 2024, at 12:01 a.m. He was offered a conditional three-month severance package as a courtesy for his loss of employment.

Undersheriff Mike Ray, who came out of retirement to work with Garcia, is reportedly contemplating stepping down to allow Parker to take the position.

Later in the meeting, the commission voted 3-0 to hire Byrd to head the jail effective Jan. 1, 2025