Committee debates whistleblower policy, weighs integrity officer vs. third‑party Navex workflow

The committee spent substantial time on proposed revisions to the county's whistleblower policy (Section 1.6), focusing on how allegations should be reported, protected, triaged and investigated. Council member Larry urged creation of an integrity officer role to receive and triage allegations, preserve confidentiality, and report redacted annual statistics, saying he has advocated for such a role for years: "The time for a integrity officer is long overdue. I've been talking about it for about 8 years, I think." Staff and other council members stressed that Navex (also transcribed as NavX), a commercial workflow tool, can manage intake and routing but does not itself perform investigations; they recommended obtaining pricing and evaluating competitors under procurement rules.

Members debated anonymity and enforcement: some supported allowing anonymous submissions to encourage reporting while others worried about misuse or the need for accountability. Council member Dawson argued for stronger penalties for retaliation and proposed substituting termination for discretionary disciplinary action in the retaliation section, saying, "Rather than disciplinary action, substitute that with termination." The committee voted to request a Navex presentation and a budgetary analysis (including a comparison of an in‑house integrity officer, accrual of duties, or contractor options) at the next meeting; staff will gather vendor pricing and procurement guidance.