Administrator Joy Andrews back on the hot seat with commission chairman

An email alleging sexual harassment against a county employee was discovered by Historic City News during the recently held commission meeting February 4th. Two St Johns County commissioners feel the alleged incident was not sufficiently investigated by County Administrator Joy Andrews.

In rebuttal, Andrews said an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations was begun — and is ongoing at this time. She was as shocked as anyone when she learned that details of the charges were being broadcast on a local television station. “I truly believe that is a violation of the protective rights of our employees,” Andrews said after the commission meeting.

Was Andrews “rigorous” in addressing the complainant’s allegations of sexual harassment? Andrews, who denied the allegations, was the subject of a recent call for a “vote of no confidence” in her ability to perform the responsibilities of administrator following her absence during last year’s garbage collection crisis. That call for a “no confidence” vote failed in a 3-2 split. Still, Andrews is no stranger to complaints and tensions between her and District 4, commission chairman Krista Joseph.

It could be true that the county administrator today is doing what previous administrative employees have done — burying the skeletons of their missteps before they are exposed in public. “Commissioner Taylor and Commissioner Joseph brought to the public a letter related to a personnel issue,” Andrews said in a prepared statement. Her complaint with Commissioner Ann Taylor and Chairman Krista Joseph centers on her opinion that the charges leveled at another county employee are “inappropriate to be discussed in public,” until she can sort out the pieces of the puzzle. As a result, Andrews said, “We have other employees who are in distress.”

Andrews is not without her supporters on the current Board of Commissioners. Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst attempted to quiet some of the hostilities that reverberated in Tuesday’s meeting.

“We are here to do the business of the county,” Whitehurst said. “I am hopeful that we will not be subjected to vicious political attacks on our county staff who do a great job.”

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Arnold named Andrews personally while echoing those remarks. “I would also hope that there would be no more vicious attacks on our county administrator,” she said.

Joseph made no effort to respond to either Whitehurst or Arnold.

Adding fuel to the fire, Andrews said she enlisted the help of the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office to help find the source of the “leak”. The county administrator stated that it is her purpose to “ensure that these types of breaches do not happen again.” A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office described the emails that were included in the televised local news broadcast as “sensitive”, but not that any laws were broken in their disclosure.

Chairman Joseph did respond to Andrews’ announcement that she has involved the sheriff. Joseph denies any involvement in “leaking” information to the press. “I think that’s excellent because my name was on it and I had nothing to do with it,” she responded. “So, I think bringing in the sheriff is a great idea.”