County supervisors want to address the problems plaguing the county’s Behavioral Health Services Department.
Top county officials say they only recently learned of employee misconduct issues uncovered after a Voice of San Diego public records request and a more than year-long court battle.
The records released last month documented significant culture issues at the Edgemoor skilled nursing facility that serves medically fragile adults, sexual harassment at the county’s psychiatric hospital and an instance where an administrative analyst who worked elsewhere in the department made a racist comment during an online diversity training. County officials promoted the analyst months after the investigation.
Most supervisors told Voice they expect the county to release records documenting misconduct confirmed by investigators without a court fight in the future.
County spokespeople have said they cannot detail specific steps that the county took to discipline staff involved in the misconduct for personnel reasons but say the county is examining hiring practices and trying to increase oversight.
“The county’s focus is on taking concrete steps to strengthen workplace culture, leadership accountability, employee support and opportunities for employees and the public to raise concerns,” county spokesperson Tammy Glenn wrote in a statement this week. “We want to ensure employees can do their best work and remain focused on serving the community.”
We asked supervisors to respond, too. Here’s what they said.
Vice Chair Monica Montgomery Steppe
“It’s not acceptable and it has been accepted within our system, this part of our system that, we know of, for a while now. And it is not acceptable,” Montgomery Steppe said in an interview with Voice. “That’s why we have to change. That is going to be tough. It’s going to require a lot of work. It’s going to require a lot of buy-in from other employees. It’s going to require a lot of conversations, but we’re committed to that.”
Supervisor Paloma Aguirre
“When I saw these documents, I was furious,” Aguirre said in a statement. “Racism, harassment, and discrimination hurt the dedicated employees who show up every day to do their jobs, and they hurt the communities who depend on Behavioral Health Services for help and care. The only path forward is to rebuild trust, and that means the county must act decisively, make concrete changes, and do the right thing. That’s what I expect to see.”
Supervisor Jim Desmond
“I’ll let county counsel and the court speak to the litigation itself. What I’m focused on is what these investigations actually found,” Desmond wrote in a statement. “That’s the part that concerns me, and I’m working through the chief administrative officer to make sure the right personnel actions are taken and that the department fixes what allowed this to happen in the first place.”
Chair Terra Lawson-Remer
“Chair Lawson-Remer believes the public has a right to know when serious allegations of misconduct have been substantiated,” her office wrote in a statement. “Accountability also requires a fair, consistent ethics process for investigating allegations, acting on findings, and ensuring due process. The county’s approach to this current matter was set under prior county counsel. Earlier this year, Chair Lawson-Remer proposed charter changes to establish new independent oversight of both elected officials and senior appointed county leadership. Those proposed changes are now before voters this November.”
Supervisor Joel Anderson
Anderson declined to comment on the misconduct records, but his office shared this: “For six years on the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Anderson has been an unrelenting champion of transparency. He has authored several board letters that strengthen public access to records and open government because he has always believed that his constituents deserve to know what their government is doing.”
