Thurston County sheriff, commissioner and Tenino mayor to host town hall Saturday discussing police department’s future

Thurston County Sheriff Derek Sanders, along with Thurston County Commissioner Wayne Fournier and Tenino Mayor Dave Watterson, will host a town hall this Saturday, March 28, to discuss the future of the Tenino Police Department and what contracting with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) would be like.

The Saturday town hall will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Tenino Elementary School, located at 301 Old Highway 99 SE in Tenino.
Sanders announced the town hall on his Facebook page following Watterson’s announcement at the March 10 Tenino City Council meeting that the South Thurston County community’s police department may need to be dissolved as city staff grapple with how to handle mandatory loan payments resulting from past budget misreporting issues.

“Over the last two weeks, I have been engaged in conversations with City of Tenino leadership about concerns over diminishing police coverage and budget constraints,” Sanders said on Facebook. “Most of us are acutely aware of the squeeze that local governments are feeling right now in the current state of our economy, and small cities/counties are disproportionately impacted. After speaking with Tenino leadership last week, I immediately requested this topic be presented in front of the citizens of Tenino so they could weigh in. In the meantime however, Tenino residents could be without city police coverage in a matter of weeks with departing officers. We have offered the Tenino police officer who is projected to be the last one remaining on duty to apply with TCSO, and they have done so. To be very clear: Thurston County Sheriff’s Office will not allow Tenino residents to go without police coverage, even absent a long term contract in place. As discussions continue toward figuring out the long term plan, TCSO will step in and provide police services. As a reminder, we already provide police services after hours to the residents of Tenino. I recognize this news will result in very valid questions and concerns. I encourage you to attend our town hall.”

He added that, along with Fournier and Watterson, other local leaders will be in attendance.

“I look forward to seeing you there and hearing from you,” Sanders stated.

The budget misreporting issues started in 2021 and resulted in expenditures outpacing revenue by an estimated $1.4 million in Tenino’s budgets from 2021 to 2023, as previously reported by The Chronicle.

To account for the expenditures outpacing revenues, money was taken from restricted sewer and water budget funds and used on non-sewer and water-related items.

Because it’s a violation of state law to use the restricted funds on non-fund related items, the city council had to retroactively approve use of the funds as an interfund loan. The city must now pay back the loan to the sewer and water funds within the next three years at a 4% interest rate for a total of approximately $1.8 million.

Despite several other city staff positions already being eliminated and funding cuts made to other departments, the Tenino Police Department is now on the chopping block as city staff struggle to maintain an annual balanced budget while still paying off the interfund loan. Municipalities such as Tenino are required to submit balanced budgets by state law.

Misreporting began when the city began experiencing high turnover at the clerk-treasurer — with three being fired or quitting between 2021 and 2023. At one point, city staff were forced to contract with an outside accounting firm, who allegedly also made budgeting errors.
Prior to this, a previous clerk-treasurer also fell victim to a phishing email scam in 2020, leading to the loss of over $330,000 in fraudulent automated clearing house payments. These issues occurred toward the end of Fournier’s tenure as Tenino’s mayor, from 2015 until 2023, when he was elected to his current office as a Thurston County commissioner.

Upon his assumption of the mayor’s office after being elected in 2023, Watterson and city staff discovered the budgeting errors and reported to the Office of the Washington State Auditor. Originally it was estimated $1.3 million was taken from the restricted sewer and water funds, though that figure has since risen to $1.6 million since 2024. With interest, it was estimated the city will have to make about $1.8 million in loan payments.

While city staff on the Tenino Budget Committee initially thought they could pay the debt back in several years, Watterson stated it may take up to a decade during the Tenino City Council meeting earlier this month.

“The state recommends three years, but there’s just no way we can pay back that amount of money in three years,” he said on March 10. “So I think the council’s kind of general direction is to try to pay that back in 10 years. This year, we budgeted $160,000 just to pay in interest and back-interest, because we didn’t pay interest last year on the debt, so we’re trying to catch up.”

Watterson added 2027’s payment would be between $190,000 and $200,000 to at least pay both interest and principal on the interfund loan.

Watterson’s budget breakdown from the March 10 meeting can be found on the council’s agenda report starting on page 5 at https://tinyurl.com/2a66wbuz on the city’s website.

To learn more about Tenino’s previous budget issues, read The Chronicle’s coverage at https://tinyurl.com/3bf8b34p.