Linn County public works administrator fired by commission

Linn County Public Works Administrator Shaun West was fired on Monday, April 7, by two of the three members of the Linn County Commission. West has filed several grievances against Commission Chair Jim Johnson and has also filed a complaint of ouster to have Johnson removed from the commission. (Roger Sims / Linn County Journal)

By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com

MOUND CITY – After several years of taking on more and more duties and defending the employees under him from harassment, Public Works Director Shaun West was terminated from his position on Monday, April 7. The termination came on a unanimous vote by Commissioners Jim Johnson and Alison Hamilton. Commissioner Jason Hightower was not at the meeting.

Kent Harris, county zoning administrator, was no longer employed by the county as of Monday as well, although it was not voted on in public by the two commissioners. On Tuesday, County Clerk Danielle Souza confirmed that Harris was no longer employed by the county but didn’t share any details.

In a phone interview on Tuesday with West, he recounted the surprise when he returned to his office on Monday after being at the courthouse working on getting a bid for the roof. Sheriff James Akes and Undersheriff Bobby Johnson were there to escort him out, only allowing him a few minutes to gather personal items.

West said that was a cowardly way for Johnson and Hamilton to notify him of his dismissal. He called Johnson a “coward,” adding that he “holds no moral high ground.”

West, who originally filed a grievance against Johnson on July 31, 2023, subsequently filed an ouster against Johnson on June 17, 2024. He told the commissioners that he was filing the Complaint of Ouster to the Linn County Attorney because no results or resolution had been made in the 11-month process since he had filed the grievance. At that time, he pointed out that the abusive behavior and alleged targeting of employees by Johnson still continued. 

The ouster complaint that West was referring to was based on Kansas Statute 60-1205, which states the grounds for forfeiture of public office. It states that people who shall (1) willfully engage in misconduct while in office, (2) willfully neglect to perform any duty enjoined upon such person by law, (3) demonstrate mental impairment such that the person lacks the capacity to manage the office held, or (4) who shall commit any act constituting a violation of any penal statute involving moral turpitude, shall forfeit such person’s office and shall be ousted from such office in the matter hereinafter provided.

Related statutes 60-1206 and 60-1207 line out the ouster proceedings and explain the temporary suspension of the official during the public hearing. As well as how the person will be replaced. 

West’s last grievance was filed against the commission when they failed to follow the county’s policy in resolving the grievances. 

As of this date, the ouster has not proceeded through the county attorney’s office because that office is reportedly waiting for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office to make a ruling on evidence in the case. While the ouster does not require a review by the attorney general, former county attorney Burton Harding chose to wait on the results of a Kansas Open Meetings Act complaint initiated by the Linn County Journal, and current County Attorney Justin Meeks is also waiting on the AG’s investigation before proceeding or abandoning the ouster request. 

West’s first grievance was filed when Economic Development Director Jessica Hightower filed a grievance against Johnson for harassment. Johnson continued to harass Jason and Jessica Hightower about nepotism. Jessica had been the economic development director since July 2018 and Jason was elected commissioner in November 2022 with many voters aware that they were husband and wife.

Before Jason took office, Jessica’s economic development position was moved under the supervision of West on the advice of then county counselor Gary Thompson so that she would not be directly supervised by the commissioners. County policy allows family members to work for the county but does not allow one family member to be the direct supervisor of another family member. Johnson made the motion and voted for this change on the county’s flow chart.

By the time 2023 was over, at least five grievances had been filed by public works employees due to the harassment. West and road foremen received one or more calls from Johnson daily about what they needed to do.

At one point, West gave Johnson a letter of understanding that told Johnson that he refused to take Johnson’s calls and told at least one of the road foremen that they did not need to take what amounted to a continuous string of calls from the commissioner.

Thompson also refused to take the numerous calls from Johnson. Thompson resigned March 4, 2024, after being verbally attacked steadily for the last several weeks and periodically before that by Johnson.

Other county employees and officials have also refused to take phone calls from Johnson or reported that he is harassing them.

At the Feb. 13, 2023, commission meeting, former Sheriff Kevin Friend told the commissioners why he had stopped coming to commission meetings.

Friend said, “Because I was treated badly, and I don’t go where I am treated badly. I have no need to be there. It’s my personal mission.” 

Jessica Hightower resigned effective as of Aug. 9, 2024, after months of being the target of Johnson’s anger that Jason Hightower had been elected commissioner and had opposed Johnson on several key votes. 

Johnson had made motions to fire her several times because he considered her working for the county while her husband was commissioner as nepotism. Her grievance was not resolved before she quit.

Other resignations in the public works department were Planning and Zoning Director Darin Wilson and sign department employee Kevin Amer. 

In January 2025 when Commissioner Alison Hamilton was sworn in, she started insisting that West be responsible for more activities including getting the Christmas lights taken down on both the courthouse and judicial building by a specific date. For several weeks, she asked about whether this had been completed even when the weather was not suitable for setting up the bucket truck for removing the lights. 

Hamilton asked that West be in charge of working with the State Historical Society on grants and repairs to the courthouse and quizzed him weekly about what he had learned about grants. 

Besides taking care of Hamilton’s wishes, West actually supervised the Public Works Department, the Linn County Park (including communication with Evergy, lagoon repairs) communications with the Federal Emergency Management Management Agency (FEMA), the county’s on-call engineers, the solid waste department, the noxious weed department, the county sign employee, the county maintenance department, Economic Development (including the airport), mowing contracts for the county, public transportation, senior centers, county compactors,  and planning and zoning.

West was responsible for budgets that amount to over a third of the county’s budget and his department is the only department that turns in a three- to five-year plan every year. West also is the only person trained to purchase right of ways. Jessica Hightower was also able to do that.

And until the commissioners hired Jesse Walton as the Road and Bridge Operations Supervisor in October 2024, West supervised all of the road crews and equipment. When Chasity Ware was hired Nov. 4, 2024 as economic development director, she was put directly under the commissioners for supervision and evaluation.

On March 17, the commissioners held a workshop on the county employee flow chart. At that meeting they discussed but did not finalize making Walton and West both directly under the commissioners. They also tentatively discussed putting noxious weed under Walton and the Linn County Park and airport under Ware.

On Monday, April 7, when West gave his opinion after qualifying the bids for on call county engineers, Hamilton questioned his opinion and asked him if he knew someone at the company, seeming to imply that West was picking that company for a certain reason.

Also on April 7, Hamilton questioned West about the position of Randy Page, the county construction manager. She asked who had hired him and was it really appropriate to have him do jobs around the county without taking bids from other vendors, apparently blaming West for Page’s position. West explained that she would have to ask the commissioners about the hiring of Page. The commissioners hired Page in March 2023.