County Suspends Risk Manager Claude Cox Continues To Be Paid Pending Investigation Into Bigelow Gulch Affair

For the third time in two years, Spokane County commissioners have suspended their risk manager.

The decision to suspend Claude Cox again came Tuesday after Commissioner Kate McCaslin had been briefed in private about an ongoing state investigation. Auditors are looking into whether Cox improperly funneled hundreds of automobile repair jobs primarily to one body shop.

Details of that briefing were not released.

After McCaslin’s progress report, the three commissioners met behind closed doors, then told Cox to turn in the keys to his county pickup. He is suspended - but will continue to get a paycheck - until state auditors complete the investigation that commissioners requested earlier this month.

“If he gets cleared of wrongdoing, he’ll be reinstated,” said Commissioner John Roskelley.

No one can say how long auditors will spend completing the investigation.

Contacted at his home Tuesday evening, Cox said he intends to hire a lawyer “to protect my rights.”

“I’m just in shock. I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Tuesday’s action is the latest repercussion from a botched paving project on Bigelow Gulch Road in August. County Engineer Bill Johns was suspended without pay for two weeks after roughly 800 people filed claims that their cars were sprayed with hot tar. Cox contends he warned Johns that the road should be closed during the project.

So far, the county has paid out about $540,000 to have about 600 cars repaired. About $405,000 went to Specialty Auto and Truck Painting Inc. and $70,000 went to Camp Auto Body downtown, according to county records.

All other shops combined got only $55,000 of the business.

Cox acknowledged he recommended the claimants go to Specialty, and didn’t require competitive bids if they did. That offer was extended to include Camp after the shop called offering to work on the cars, he said.

Claimants who chose to take their cars elsewhere had to submit three bids so the county could be certain the price was competitive.

Cox said his recommendation of Specialty was based on work done for the county in the past.

“I went where the people gave us the priority and would get those taxpayers treated right,” he said, adding that few shops want the chore of removing tar from fenders.

The auditors are investigating whether Cox’s recommendation was legal, and whether any shops overcharged for the work.

Cox was suspended without pay twice in 1996.

The first time, an internal investigation concluded Cox had improperly hired a friend and lied during an investigation into the matter. Jim Lindow, who since has retired as county administrator, suspended Cox for three days.

The second time, Cox and a Spokane Interstate Fair worker were suspended for alleged sexual harassment. Cox’s four-week suspension was especially severe because he contacted witnesses during the investigation, even though supervisors had told him not to do so.

McCaslin would not discuss the state investigation, on the recommendation of the auditors. They cautioned that their work is preliminary and that releasing details could hamper the investigation.

McCaslin said the county will release details of the investigation after it is complete.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this and we’ll inform the public at the appropriate time,” McCaslin said. “I don’t think we have anything to hide, although we might have something to be embarrassed about.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: THREE STRIKES Spokane County risk manager Claude Cox has been suspended three times. In 1996, the county suspended Cox for three days without pay for improperly hiring a friend and then lying during an investigation into the matter. Five months later, he was suspended without pay for four weeks after using “earthy” sexual language during a conversation at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds office. An employee reported him for sexual harassment. Tuesday, Cox was suspended with pay as state auditors investigate whether he improperly funneled county business to an auto body shop.