Whatcom County health department director Erika Lautenbach was abruptly placed on leave Wednesday afternoon, March 5, and her office has reportedly been cleared out.
Two county council members who spoke with Cascadia Daily News said they were left in the dark, first hearing rumors about the situation from constituents who noticed the director of Health and Community Services was missing from meetings.
Senior deputy prosecutor George Roche sent an email to county council members informing them Lautenbach was “on leave” at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 11. Lautenbach was appointed to the position in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and tasked with leading what has become one of the largest and most complex departments in the county.
“We will update you when we have additional information to share,” stated the email, which was obtained through a public records request after County Executive Satpal Sidhu “waived privilege” in the “interest of transparency.”
The email contained no details of whether or not Lautenbach would return to her position or the reason she was on leave. Lautenbach could not immediately be reached for comment. An email to her work address earlier this week received an out-of-office response.
“It sounds like she’s been fired, and nobody’s saying it,” county council member Todd Donovan told Cascadia Daily News on Thursday, March 13. “The executive has not given us the courtesy of saying what’s going on.”
A scheduled interview with Lautenbach and another CDN reporter was canceled 10 minutes before they were expected to meet on Thursday, March 6.
Donovan said that if it was a personnel matter, Sidhu could have brought the council up to speed in an executive session.
“If it’s just a regular ‘I’m reshuffling my leadership,’ tell us that publicly,” Donovan said.
Donovan said he understands that Sidhu has the right to fire people and make adjustments to department heads as he sees necessary. However, Sidhu, who took the helm in 2019, has yet to fire a department head.
“Given the thing with the previous public works director, that just screams that we need more transparency about what’s going on,” Donovan said. “I’m in the dark, again, here.”
Former Public Works director Jon Hutchings signed a separation agreement with the county after resigning amid allegations of sexual harassment, which ultimately resulted in a $225,000 settlement. The county council was blindsided by the circumstances around Hutchings’ departure and the settlement, first learning about it through a Cascade PBS investigation.
County council member Ben Elenbaas said a constituent was the first to put the issue on his radar. Elenbaas brushed it off, but when he reached out to Lautenbach and got an out-of-office reply, he started to wonder.
“It seems like there’s some chaos here,” Elenbaas said. “I expect, as well as the public should expect, that if there’s something that’s going on, that we should all be informed.”
Elenbaas said that though he often challenges the health department in county council meetings, he has a lot of respect for Lautenbach, recognizing how much she’s grown the department since she took charge.
“If there’s any change of leadership, which we have not been informed about, what is Plan B?” Donovan said.
When the county’s director of parks and recreation retired in 2023, Donovan noted the county did a national search.
“It was a considered process,” Donovan said, noting that he was unaware of a search for a replacement for the leader of one of “the most consequential departments in terms of complexity and budget” in the county.
When Lautenbach was hired, she had more than 15 years of experience in public health and had “demonstrated her ability to manage people, projects and organizations and to be strategic in her approach to implementing public health initiatives,” according to a 2020 news release.
Donovon noted that the department, which employs about 150 people, provides a broad spectrum of services for the community, from veteran and mental health programs to immunization clinics and the disposal of toxins. It is also on the frontline in the county’s response to the fentanyl crisis and homelessness in the community. The department is also in charge of implementing the heavily-debated Healthy Children’s Fund.
Health department assistant director Charlene Lamont is serving as the acting director, confirmed county spokesperson Jed Holmes.
“In the absence of details, people will fill in their own details. So I think it’s only responsible for people that do know what’s going on to say what’s going on,” Elenbaas said. “There’s obviously something going on.”
Isaac Stone Simonelli is CDN’s enterprise/investigations reporter; reach him at isaacsimonelli@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 127.
