Edmonds Mayor Says He Cooperated With Audit of City Employee

While he says he is unable to discuss the , Edmonds Mayer Mike Cooper wants to address the issue involving the Washington State Auditor’s Office, which is run by Brian Sonntag.

According to sources within the city of Edmonds, who did not want to be named, Humann’s firing came after some city staff members had complained about a fellow city staff member’s work hours and had contacted the State Auditor to look at the staff member’s time sheets. 

Says Cooper: “The state auditor did contact interim Finance Director Jim Tarte asking to audit, not investigate, the time sheets of one employee. Ms Humann and Mr. Tarte both informed me of this call, and I directed them to have the auditor contact me directly and the city would fully cooperate. In fact, I suggested to Mr. Tarte that in the interest of open and effective government, we would like the auditor to review our process of completing exception hours records and accompanying policies for all exempt employees. Our policies are a decade old and have warranted review.”

Humann, who has worked for the city since 1999, is hiring an attorney in an attempt to get her job back.

Cooper said in a statement that the firing of Humann last week was one of a lack of trust.