Open letter to Washington City Council about JJ Bell

When I first returned to Washington to start my optometric career, I was asked to serve on the Planning and Zoning Board. I was assured by the person who asked me that it would be a non-controversial position and would likely help promote my practice. When I showed up for my first meeting there were around a hundred people there glaring at me as their properties were about to be annexed by the city. It would have been better for my practice had I showed up in the Police Log! Ever since my stint on that board I have appreciated anyone who chooses to serve the community and have refrained from criticizing their decisions, recognizing my knowledge was likely much more limited than theirs on whatever the issue might be. That is, until I heard about JJ Bell.

I first met JJ when my two boys worked for the city and my wife Linda had the city crew over to the house one day for lunch. All I can remember about that is that both boys had commented at the time what a hard worker JJ was. Apparently over time he impressed more than just my boys, being named Supervisor of Construction and Maintenance in 2010, a role he maintained for fifteen years under four different city administrators. I have no idea what kind of supervisor he has been, only that whenever I had a water problem impacting my home, he was most accommodating and professional in resolving it. For twenty-nine and a half years he strapped on his work boots serving the community in which he was raised. The fact that he had accrued four hundred and eighty hours of sick pay is but one indication of his dependability and loyalty to his job. One can only imagine the shock he must have felt when out of the blue his boss showed up at his office at the end of a workday a few weeks ago threatening to fire him if he didn’t sign retirement papers at the relatively young age of fifty-four, just two and a half years short of qualifying for IPERS! This despite never having been warned or called on the carpet for any specific wrongdoing throughout his entire career!

I am assuming there are more reasons for JJ’s dismissal than him simply donating a load of sand to The Eagle’s Nest, something he had done for a number of years prior under the two prior city administrators without reprimand, or for joining a foursome for a round of golf one Tuesday morning, taking vacation time to do it and being available for call if needed. No way does either of these two infractions seem egregious enough to warrant casting the loyalty a twenty-nine-and-a-half-year employee aside, not to mention the invaluable experience that would be lost to the city in doing so. Had he had the same nomadic work history as his superior forcing him to resign, serving six different communities in the last twelve years, including leaving his previous position after only four and a half months, then the rather callous and insensitive approach that was deployed would perhaps be more acceptable. You would think, however, that after dedicating nearly three decades to the city, JJ would have deserved better!

While admittedly I am unaware of what the true motivation for eliminating JJ from the workforce was, it is evident to me that the optics alone of the way it was handled could justify the termination of a city employee, just not the one being forced to resign. With the aggressive nature of Andy Griffith, bolstered by a voice that, when measured in decibels, would be condoned by any librarian in the country, JJ Bell is anything but an intimidating figure; which is why it was ludicrous to think a police escort was needed when convincing him to resign. If someone from HR needed to be present, surely it could have waited until Mrs. Brown returned from her vacation. One can only imagine what it must have been like for JJ to be sitting and listening to his future being upended with a uniformed officer sitting across from his desk!

I understand the issue of JJ’s forced retirement is on the agenda for your upcoming council meeting. It is also my understanding that the person advocating for JJ will be given three minutes to speak, one more minute than my electric toothbrush runs before automatically shutting off. I am also told you won’t be able to speak on the matter, which obviously means the disclosure of the real reason behind such an effort being made to end JJ’s employment will not be forthcoming. At least someone should tell JJ I would think! Certainly the two reasons given to him at the time of his signing would seem grossly inadequate, the sand incident being refuted by precedent alone, and the golf outing falling far short of justification for his dismissal. If promoting camaraderie by golfing with his co-workers broke city policy by having too many gone from the department at one time (there were still five on duty at the time), then call him into the office and write him up. Surely his first demerit in nearly thirty years would hardly seem worthy of termination.

In closing, I wish to emphasize I really have no dog in the fight, but rather am simply incensed by the injustice surrounding JJ’s dismissal and feel compelled to share my thoughts on a matter that has left many in the community bewildered. I realize that the hiring and firing of city employees usually does not fall under your purview, but was hoping that collectively you might be able to convince the city administrator to reinstate JJ back into the city’s workforce. Should your request be met with a “my way or the highway” type of response, given his prior work itinerary, should it end up being the latter he likely wouldn’t need a road map.

My apologies for this likely taking more than three minutes to read. Brevity has never been one of my virtues.

Respectfully submitted,

Tom and Linda Lowe, Washington