St. Johns County Board of Commissioners Chair Krista Joseph clashed once again with County Administrator Joy Andrews on Tuesday—this time over her handling of sexual harassment allegations.
Two weeks after unsuccessfully attempting to sack Andrews, Joseph—along with board member Ann Taylor—accused her of stonewalling a probe into claims made by a county staffer.
Taylor roiled an otherwise tranquil meeting on Tuesday when she told the panel that she had received an email from a married county employee, who claimed a colleague had repeatedly made unwanted advances toward her.
The email—also sent to Joseph—alleged that the employee flagged the behavior to her superiors, who told her she was overreacting.
The employee escalated the matter by directly notifying Andrews, Taylor said.
The woman’s email claimed that Andrews responded two days later, pledging to investigate her claims but then letting the matter drop.
“In my opinion, this demonstrates very poor leadership on the part of our county administrator,” Taylor said as Andrews looked on. “Allegations of sexual harassment should be taken very seriously and investigated.”
Taylor added that the complainant was told to back off by a superior. “What’s wrong with flirting at work?” the unnamed employee allegedly said to her.
“Another senior staffer told her, ‘He was just being friendly,'” Taylor continued.
Andrews rejected the suggestion that she had ignored the allegations, stating the matter was still under review.
“I’m not going to comment on any specifics of this personal matter out of respect for everyone involved,” she said. “Proper action has been taken, it has been addressed, and legal counsel has been consulted. We do have a robust employee relations process with our HR department.”
“It’s been five months, though,” Joseph shot back. “You haven’t reported back to her for five months.”
Andrews reiterated her refusal to delve into the specifics of the case during the open meeting.
“Chair Joseph, I’m happy to provide you with a timeline of this issue,” she said.
Joseph and Taylor both called for an independent investigation into the woman’s claims.
Board member Sarah Arnold expressed concerns that Taylor and Andrews were being hasty. She noted that the email had only been circulated the prior evening and that the panel had not had time to adequately review it.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” she said. “I want to make sure we’re not doing anything that would violate anyone’s rights to privacy. I need more information. I’d like to sit down and consult with our legal team. I’d like some time to do my own due diligence before making a decision on this.”
In the end, Interim County Attorney Rich Komando said he would look into the matter and provide a concrete update to the board in 30 days.
Joseph introduced a vote of no confidence in Andrews at last week’s meeting, citing her absence during the troubled rollout of a new trash-hauling company last year. That bid narrowly failed by a vote of 3-2.
