Lost letter says board won’t investigate Granite Falls mayor

Published 10:20 pm Wednesday, May 19, 2010

GRANITE FALLS — A letter that showed the mayor of Granite Falls wouldn’t be investigated by the city’s Civil Service Board was lost at City Hall.

It took seven weeks for the letter to surface. It showed up only after other documents were released by the city earlier this month showing newly elected Mayor Haroon Saleem was being criticized by the entire police department, including Police Chief Tony Domish. Saleem placed Domish on leave on April 23 and the chief is subject of an internal investigation by the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

“Today the city located additional records,” city attorney Cheryl Beyer wrote in an e-mail Wednesday releasing the documents.

The newly found document is a letter, dated March 28, saying Granite Falls’ Civil Service board had decided against launching an investigation of Saleem.

“After discussion with the city attorney and other legal and employment sources, it is evident that the complaint submitted (by police) does not meet the requirements necessary for investigation by the Civil Service Board,” board chairman Bob Littlejohn wrote to Domish and Saleem.

Civil service commissions are mandated by state law and typically review disciplinary decisions involving civil servants, including police officers. Experts said it’s unusual for the commissions to investigate elected officials.

Domish and the six full-time police officers on the Granite Falls force on March 11 complained to the board that they had been forced to work in an “antagonistic work environment” that robbed them of their “peace of mind.” The officers feared their safety may have been compromised and suggested there may have been some sort of illegal conduct.

Littlejohn said he brought the letter to city officials this week after returning from vacation in Santa Fe, N.M., and learning that the original letter never became part of city records.

Saleem said he hadn’t seen the letter before Wednesday. Domish couldn’t be reached Wednesday.

In a separate, undated memo released Wednesday by the city, Littlejohn said he first put the letter through the mail slot at City Hall on March 28, a Sunday. Littlejohn said in the future he’ll make sure correspondence to city officials is secure, including requiring a signature upon receipt.

Adding to the confusion, Littlejohn made no reference to the March 28 decision in a letter he sent to Saleem on April 30 arguing for access to the city’s attorneys for the civil service board’s investigation.

“Due to your potential involvement in the situation under investigation it was not deemed appropriate for the board to ask for your permission,” Littlejohn wrote in that letter.

On Wednesday, Beyer, the attorney who works for the city, released the letter, which is dated March 28.

“I know that those were located this morning or today,” Beyer said. The newly released documents were not date-stamped, as is typical of other city correspondence.

Saleem placed Domish on leave on April 23 following a drug sweep in which Domish was featured in news coverage.

Backers of a petition supporting Domish collected 700 signatures, although many people who signed were schoolchildren and people who live outside the city limits.

The investigation into the chief is being handled by the sheriff’s office and there is no update, Saleem said. Officials are looking into “certain alleged actions and inactions” by the chief, according to a statement issued by an attorney for the city.

Saleem on Tuesday questioned the make-up of the Civil Service Board.

Former Mayor Lyle Romack, who lost to Saleem in November, selected three people in December to the sit on the state-mandated commission, Littlejohn said.

All of the three seats on the city’s civil service board were unfilled for several years before Romack filled the empty slots.

Littlejohn was selected as chair. Also selected was Paul Lutz, who himself ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor last year, and Scott Adams, who is married to Elizabeth Adams, a city councilwoman.

Saleem will have his chance to select board members when Scott Adams’ term expires later this year and in three years when Lutz’s term ends, Littlejohn said. Littlejohn is serving a 6-year term.

The current iteration of the civil service board held its first monthly meeting in January, Littlejohn said.

Littlejohn is a former Bellevue police detective who now runs a private investigation and polygraph examination business. He often does work for local law enforcement, including Granite Falls. He said he doesn’t bill Granite Falls, his hometown, for his professional work.

The board now is considering a new complaint filed by someone who lives in the city and is not a police officer, Littlejohn said. The complainant wants to know why Saleem asked a Snohomish County sheriff’s lieutenant to serve as interim chief while Domish is out. The person who filed the complaint claims police procedure dictates that the sergeant on the Granite Falls’ force should have been tapped to step up, and the next senior officer should have been promoted to acting sergeant.

Typically the board would consider complaints regarding this type of issue if it was made by a civil servant, Littlejohn said. It has no precedent for handling such a complaint.

“This is highly unusual,” Littlejohn said.

Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437; jholtz@heraldnet.com.