Derrick Wojcik-Damers, former general manager of Twin Transit, speaks during a board meeting in December in Chehalis.
On Saturday, the cloud of tension and drama hovering over Twin Transit’s downtown Centralia headquarters may have finally burst. We at The Chronicle strongly advise the Twin Transit Advisory Board to take serious action to prevent further harm to the public’s investment.
In the past several months, The Chronicle has reported on the commotion surrounding Twin Transit, its failed quest to go county-wide and build a regional transit hub, the potential spreading of misinformation to achieve that end, an investigation into state campaign law violations and, most recently, a spate of employee complaints against its general manager.
On Jan. 15, the Twin Transit Advisory Board, responding to some of those complaints — which came from two managers — ordered general manager Derrick Wojcik-Damers to work from home, communicating with only Board Chair Bobby Jackson and the district’s attorney, pending an internal investigation.
Friday evening, in advance of our Saturday edition, the Chronicle ran an article online quoting two current employees on allegations of poor management and revealing a letter of no confidence in Wojcik-Damers signed by more than half of the agency’s staff.
On Saturday morning, several Twin Transit employees reported to The Chronicle that, despite his employers’ directive, Wojick-Damers showed up at the office with Jackson, throwing the agency’s operations into what can best be described as, based on staff accounts, a tizzy.
A flustered weekend office staff called their supervisors, who advised them to vacate the building. Drivers were told to work out of Centralia’s Amtrak station while they were there. Jackson and Wojcik-Damers were reportedly alone in the building for a short time, before Maintenance Manager Steve Wark showed up.
Earlier in January, Jackson himself sent a memo to staff telling them that any communications with Wojcik-Damers should be made through the agency’s HR manager, to “preserve the integrity of the investigation.”
Wark told The Chronicle Wojcik-Damers appeared to be alone in his office for a time before leaving. He didn’t see Jackson leave with Wojcik-Damers, and we don’t know the exact sequence of events, but he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.
Employee Alison Meyn gave her account in the form of an allegation of a hostile work environment Monday morning. Meyn, one of the employees who spoke to The Chronicle on the record about Wojcik-Damers, drew a connection between the timing of the article’s publication, her work schedule and Wojcik-Damers’ and Jackson’s surprise visit.
Meyn showed up to work Saturday not long after Jackson and Wojcik-Damers, and was stopped in the parking lot by Road Supervisor Donna Gauger, Meyn wrote in her letter.
“She said to me that when Bobby Jackson knocked on her door, she thought it was me coming to work, she looked up and noticed Derrick, they said they were going to be looking at the new bus that was delivered,” Meyn wrote. “She called (Operations Manager) Aaron Rollins. He told her to vacate the building. They both realized that I was due to show up.”
Meyn reports being scared and worried about her coworkers.
“I felt intimidated and a little bit scared,” she wrote. “I felt I was going into a hostile work environment, knowing that the article was out online the night before and in print.”
This is getting out of hand — we’re concerned about what happens next too.
Twin Transit’s attorney’s response to our questions can be translated as — “What’s the big deal?”
“The visit was necessary to complete a few work items that required his presence at the building. Board Member Jackson has confirmed that Mr. Wojcik-Damers was not alone on the premises and did not communicate with staff. As such, these actions do not impact the investigation,” attorney Janean Parker wrote.
The investigation is regarding allegations that Wojcik-Damers won’t follow policy, disregards the feelings and advice of his staff and is a poor manager. We think his most recent actions absolutely impact the investigation. If anything, Saturday’s events should be added to the investigation’s findings, though given Parker’s response, we’re not hopeful of a full accounting of the facts.
At what point will someone call it like it is? This is not acceptable behavior by the leadership of a public agency. Whether or not Wojcik-Damers talked to anyone, he was instructed to not come to Twin Transit’s office, and he defied that order, with the help of the board member who’s always had his back. Never, until after the fact, did anyone suggest he could go into work if escorted.
Beyond that, his actions caused a major disturbance in the ability of his staff to do their jobs, and caused emotional distress — at least one staff member was so upset she was visibly shaking, according to sources.
Let us be clear, we at The Chronicle are not out to get Twin Transit, Bobby Jackson or Derrick Wojcik-Damers just because we’re mean. We’re not just doing this to be difficult, or because we get some kind of sadistic kick out of it.
We are critical of Twin Transit, as we are critical of all governmental bodies in our coverage area when it is appropriate. We do not work for these agencies. It’s the other way around. We, and the residents of Lewis County who we represent, are Bobby Jackson’s boss. We’re Derrick Wojcik-Damers’ boss, too. We pay their salaries through our tax dollars.
We’re critical of poor governance, because we want our government to succeed and our hard-earned tax dollars to be put to good use, not wasted on pie-in-the-sky transit temples on Pearl Street.
It’s time for the Twin Transit Advisory Board — all elected officials — to earn the trust their constituents put in them, and pull Twin Transit back from the brink.
