Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis could face censure at the Shasta County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
After a long hiatus from the topic, the board will finally decide whether or not to censure Curtis for substantiated findings of managerial misconduct. But whatever their decision, Curtis does not plan to take the situation on the chin.
In a text to the Record Searchlight on Aug. 10, Curtis suggested that being censured could prompt him to direct a lawsuit at the county, rather than specifically against certain Shasta County Elections department employees that he said "created a hostile work environment."
Curtis also said he will be showing a video at the meeting that will "be a good indication of the type of sabotage I have been dealing with the whole time," and that, according to him, could change the supervisors' minds.
Curtis has repeatedly denied the findings of two investigations into his conduct, and alleged that a certain contingent of elections employees have made false allegations against him and sabotaged the proceedings of the office.
Curtis said he would sue the county for defamation and "hostile work environment" if he were censured. But Supervisor Matt Plummer told the Record Searchlight on Aug. 10 that Curtis would have a difficult time arguing that his censure would be defamation, because it would require the censure to be based on false information.
The allegations made against Curtis have been substantiated with evidence by a county investigation and an investigation by the private entity Oppenheimer Investigations Group.
The meeting will be held in the Board of Supervisors chambers at 9 a.m. on Aug. 11.
The matter was initially brought before the board at the April 28 special meeting, in which Social Services Director Monica Fugitt recommended the panel censure Curtis for substantiated findings of workplace misconduct.
Fugitt's recommendation was based on the findings of two independent reports, one by the county and one by Oppenheimer Investigations Group. Both found substantiated evidence supporting various allegations made against Curtis, including that he threatened to have an employee pulled out their office by their hair, more than likely made appearance-based comments toward female employees, and made statements that he would slap or punch and throat punch staff.
Supervisor Chris Kelstrom said to Curtis at that meeting "if even 10% of those allegations are true, you deserve a censure."
To avoid impacting the results of the June 2 primary election, the board voted 3-2 to delay a decision until after the election.
At a June 23 meeting, Supervisor Allen Long initiated the process to revisit the topic.
At that meeting, the board voted 4-1 to bring censure back for discussion after the election was certified, with Supervisor Kevin Crye casting the only dissenting vote.
"It's a waste of time," Crye said during the meeting.
Drew Askeland covers Redding and Shasta County government issues, as well as anything else that needs reporting for the Record Searchlight and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected] or (530) 225-8247. Please subscribe today to support our newsroom's commitment to public service journalism.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta ROV Clint Curtis faces censure, threatens suit against county