ISLAND COUNTY: Island Transit board fires executive director

Jessie Stensland reports from the Island Transit board of directors meeting of Wed., May 29, 2024 for the Whidbey News-Times.

Controversy over secretive raises for several administrators led the board of Island Transit to fire the executive director and place the Human Resources director on leave this week.

The board held a special meeting Wednesday, went into executive session and then returned to vote unanimously to terminate Executive Director Todd Morrow, effective immediately.

Board members appointed Craig Cyr, a Langley council member and chair of the Island Transit Board, as the acting director. They also appointed Island County Commissioner Melanie Bacon, the former county HR director, as the interim HR director for the transit agency.

They Said It

“I think it’s important that the board has trust and confidence in the decisions of the executive director and at this point I think there is a level of discomfort with some of the decisions and the direction,” Island County Commissioner Jill Johnson, a member of the transit board, said at the meeting.

Cyr is recommending that the board hire a firm to conduct an organizational health and work environment study.

“I am concerned about morale and am looking forward to the results of the study,” he said.

Bacon said in an interview that a labor market wage study for senior management officials on Whidbey Island shows that the $183,000 salary is way out of line for an HR director. The county HR manager, for example, has to handle about four times as many employees and earns closer to $120,000.

Bacon said the other transit managers who received raises are in positions that require more specialized knowledge, so a review will take a little more time. Cyr, however, said it’s very likely that the salaries will be adjusted.

Cyr admits that some of the fault lies with the board.

“There needs to be more scrutiny,” he said. “We had trust and that trust was broken.”

As a result, he said, the board members are going to develop a check list and other procedures for ensuring that they are receiving and digesting the necessary information before making decisions.