||| FROM JASON HENSEL |||
As you may know, I am no longer the Building Official for San Juan County. I would like to take a moment to clear the air and dispel any rumors about my departure and to thank all of my supporters, all of whom have shared my disbelief about the situation.
I should start off by saying this community feels more like a family than any other place I’ve lived and how proud I am to be part of it. My wife, Crys, and I lived in Bothell, WA nearly 30 years ago. We honeymooned on Orcas and always wanted to come back to the islands. Almost 14 years ago we had the opportunity to move here as I became the building inspector and worked my way up to be the Building Official for San Juan County.
I have had the chance to meet some amazing people here and help them on their journey in their building adventure. I enjoyed helping others and sharing my knowledge of the building codes. After 11 years as a building inspector, I was asked to become the Building Official because of my fair and reasonable manner. I believe that by teaching and helping others, we are all better for it and when our buildings are safer it helps everyone. I believe my time here has helped the community, other county staff, and many local contractors. It’s what drove me to succeed here.
The Building Official serves at the whim of the Director of DCD. The position is ‘At-Will’ which means they can let you go for any reason or no reason at all. I knew this and accepted it as a condition of the job offer. I fully understood the ramifications that my job security was not protected by the union. However, there was no discussion, no reason given, no explanation offered. While perfectly within their rights to do so, the Management lost a dedicated professional at a time when it is greatly needed. It was as if nearly 14 years of dedication and hard work counted for nothing, not even a thank you.
To quell any rumors, there was no impropriety, no performance issues, or anything of that nature. The only thing said was, “We are going in a different direction” from the people in charge.
After separating from the county, and dealing with the shock of it all, it was heartwarming to see the level of support I have been given. So many people are genuinely interested in how we are doing, and are just as thoroughly confused as to why this happened.
We plan on staying on Orcas and will explore our opportunities in this wonderful island family. I leave with my dignity and knowledge that I did my best, and that I was a positive force for our community.
My wife and I thank you all very much for your support. We look forward to seeing you around. JasonandCrysHensel@gmail.com if you need to reach me.
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While building custom houses on Orcas Island Jason Hensel was the building inspector on many of these projects. With over 40 years of building experience, we found Jason to be one of the best inspectors we had encountered. He was honest, direct, helpful, pleasant, thorough, and knowledgeable, which facilitated our conforming to the building codes, and made it easier to do our job correctly. We were surprised and dismayed to hear that he was dismissed without being given a reasonable explanation. He is a loss to our community.
Given the high level of building activity in SJC and the backlog of building permit applications, I gotta wonder what the backstory is here.
Thanks for your explanation Jason, and for your years of great service to the county. I can’t understand why a highly competent and well regarded official would be terminated when there is an abundance of work in the department. I hoped to get an answer from Council, but so far no response.
I look forward to seeing what you and Crys do next, and I hope it’s on Orcas. You have made a positive impact on our community.
Jason, thank you for all your years of service. You are already being missed.
Your sense of Professionalism, discipline, and common sense with a friendly approach will be missed the most. Watching you thru the years dealing with such up and down leadership amongst our County’s growth, I’m impressed you stayed. Another door open when one closes, you have grown with your talents and excellent people skills so hang in there. The saddest part of this story, is the lack of respect, for our trusted staff.. That sends a message, one that has short term promise.
Thank you for mentioning so many of us they the years, you are a fine gentleman as well as Official, I bet if there was a score card given to your peers, you are in the top percentage of Competence, Clarity and fairness !
Thank you Sir!
Jason was the building inspector during much of my home building project and I am astonished at his untimely departure. I too found Jason to be honest, competent, thorough, direct, fair, reasonable, and helpful, an experienced builder himself. In fact, I came to regard Jason as my safety advisor, sometimes responding to suggestions that went beyond code. In a time when trust in our institutions has broadly ebbed, why would we want to move in a “different direction”? We should be seeking ways to retain and reward Jason and others of similar superior competence for their continuing service to our community.
Jason’s departure from his role as both inspector and Chief Building Official should be seen as an affront to every building professional in our County. Jason has dedicated a large portion of his professional life to San Juan County and has done more for the Department of Community Development than almost any other single employee. He represented professionalism at every step and knew exactly where to draw lines for builders, homeowners and other industry professionals to assure that quality and safety were achieved at every step. He was available, on a whim, to resolve issues that might otherwise have halted the building process.
Our county management should be embarrassed that they have allowed newly arrived staff to disrupt, with the stroke of a pen, a department that was already struggling to be effective in serving the citizens. Hiring, training, and retaining staff in San Juan County is unlike almost any other jurisdiction. This, apparently, is lost upon DCD, county management and the current sitting Council.
We will, of course, never hear from Council about this matter. They will hide behind the shield of “we cannot comment on employment matters.” And while this is true, they also must understand, that the citizens of San Juan County deserve a reasoned explanation regarding their position on the value of their employees and the management philosophy by which the county operates.
The optics of recent county actions point in a very concerning direction. We, as citizens, need to make very clear to Council and Management that the bully-mentality currently at work will not be tolerated.
Thank you Jason for all of your years of dedicated service to our County. This certainly was not a decision that reflects the desires of the citizens of this county.
Jason, I trust the gentlemen commenting here. They know. And from what I hear is that you’re a professional and honest servant to the construction professionals and homeowners of this county.
Thank you for your service.
This whole incident makes me wonder if “there is something rotten in the SJC DCD” to paraphrase Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
I pray that we don’t have a Claudius as we expect integrity and excellence in our elected and appointed officials.
Tony P Ghazel
Glad to hear you are sticking around! I’m sure you will land on your feet and doors you never imagined will open and success will follow. Best of luck with what ever the future will bring!
I was shocked when I heard this news. I have been working on an addition and a garage project for the last several years. Jason has been invaluable in this process. He took his job seriously and applied building code with the utmost integrity. He did this while being available, approachable, helpful, knowledgeable, informative, reasonable, generous with his time, patient, and friendly. He managed all this every time I reached out to him, and the number of times was not just a few. The value to the community that this represents was certainly not something to be so easily wasted.
Jason – had I known the last time I talked to you as building inspector was the last time, I would have plied you with a few more questions . But more importantly I would have expressed how much I appreciated you. So I am doing that now. THANK YOU!
I too would like to thank Jason for his work as both a building inspector and later as the Chief Building Official. Jason was the inspector when I was doing construction on Orcas and also when I was building my own house. He was professional, knowledgeable, offered constructive guidance when asked and always a pleasure to work with. Very sad to see him dismissed, particularly for “ we are going in a different direction “, and after 14 years of dedicated work. I worry what that direction might be when the Director of DCD, who must have been backed by the Council, fired such an excellent employee. Thank you for your service Jason hope to see you around…As to the Council and DCD Director, “Kindergarten Rules” prevent me from saying what I think regarding your actions, or lack of, in this matter.
I did not know this building inspector. I’m sorry he lost his job, since it seems from the comments so far that he was well regarded. Perhaps he will go independent, and do well for himself. I wish him the very best in his future endeavors, just as I would wish anyone else who has lost a position suddenly – or not suddenly. Times are hard for working people.
I challenge part of what Justin Paulsen said because I think it foments division, as is obvious by some of the comments:
“We will, of course, never hear from Council about this matter. They will hide behind the shield of “we cannot comment on employment matters.” And while this is true, they also must understand, that the citizens of San Juan County deserve a reasoned explanation regarding their position on the value of their employees and the management philosophy by which the county operates.”
Justin, I think you are bending a narrative in a misleading way, since no county department. board, or taxing district is allowed, by State law, to reveal employment matters. Is it a continual frustration to citizens and taxpayers? Yes! In a number of situations, including the fire department and it is also frustrating when a board won’t keep its manager (employee) in hand. It doesn’t always mean that someone is “hiding” something. They are gag-ordered by law. Your second point I think is valid. We the Public have a right to know what is going on in these situations, in terms of direction the County is taking. But there are laws here, as well. And a lot of people are litigation-happy and have the money to litigate, so we are in a real stew, no matter how you stir the pot.
I was one who jumped on the bandwagon to criticize the new Development Department Director before I ever talked to him, because I listened to rumors such as this. Perhaps the “other direction” the county is going is to not give every single parcel on the island maximum density zoning and building permits and to (finally!) consider environmental and quality-of-life impacts for what we should have been protecting all along by never making the ridiculous land use densities we did.. If so, I’m all for it! The growth glut and development craze can’t keep going in this trajectory. The island can’t sustain it.
We all feel emotional about unmitigated growth, depending on where we stand and what we’ve seen; some all for it, some all against it, some in the middle. It’s a complex issue. I have watched all regulatory checks and balances be gutted, concerning Eastsound Swale forested wetland and shorelines in and around Eastsound UGA (once Orcas Island’s highest- functioning wetland and shoreline systems). It’s egregious what’s been done and continues to be done here. It’s all a matter of perspective.
I think that talking with, rather than about, someone, is a more fruitful course. When I talked with the DCD director, we didn’t talk about personalities. He stressed that he was given a job to help the Dept. finish with the Comp Plan, which is 5 1/2 years behind schedule, since we have to start the entire review process again in a few years and they still need to work on the regulations that follow the Vision. Seems fair to me, and I respect that direction; especially since it may go against big-money interests,
Hi Sadie, Thanks for your input.
Just to be clear, the Building Official is guided by the state building codes adopted by the WA state legislature. This position has nothing to do with the local zoning rules involved with your discussion points about density and comp plan. If your concerns are about density, housing, or shoreline issues, then please bring them up to the council or the director.
I was involved with the rules and regulations involving the construction of the buildings, including teaching and directing staff to follow the building codes and administer the rules involving permitting them. I had nothing to do with the comp plan, critical areas, shorelines, stormwater, or other planning issues.
When I hear from the local contractors about how I ran the department, I hear good things. I treated them with respect and gave reasoned explanations for the rules they needed to follow. I was a positive influence and helped turn the department around during my time there as you can see by the comments.
By choosing to go in a ‘different direction’ they’ve demonstrated that this isn’t how they want to treat the citizens of San Juan County.