SPOKANE, Wash. — The investigation into Spokane's former city administrator Johnnie Perkins alleges a pattern of engaging in inappropriate relationships with coworkers and sharing the intimate details of that relationship with one of his employees.
Through the investigation, the city found that Perkins allegedly engaged in a romantic relationship with a city employee, shared intimate details about the couple's sex life and pulled one of his employees into his office to talk about his relationship during work hours. Perkins, however, claimed he did not share personal details about the relationship without being asked. He also claimed the employee he was in a relationship with tried to get him to use his position to do favors for her.
Citing health concerns, Perkins resigned from his position as Spokane City Administrator on July 13, nearly one month after Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward initiated an investigation into his alleged misconduct. On June 23, the city announced Perkins was placed on administrative leave, but did not say why until a later date.
It was eventually revealed that Perkins was being investigated for allegedly violating the city's sexual harassment policy.
Nearly three weeks after Perkins' resignation, the investigation into his conduct was released by the city.
The city's human resources director started the investigation into Perkins "on or around June 21, 2023," by talking with two current city employees. Both employees confirmed knowing about Perkins' relationship with another current employee and alleged that Perkins had been in another relationship with a former employee prior to her departure. The former city employee denied ever having a relationship with Perkins.
The HR director spoke with Perkins' alleged partner on June 21. During that conversation, the employee said she and Perkins had discussed the possibility of starting a romantic relationship. The employee said she told Perkins that HR needed to be notified because she "thought it is unethical based on his position." HR later told her it would be okay if she and Perkins went on a date, but she ultimately decided she wanted them to remain friends.
The employee claimed she "was very persistent throughout the entire process" and that she only wanted to be friends.
On June 23, HR spoke with one of Perkins' direct employees, who claimed that Perkins spoke about his relationship with the city employee quite often. Perkins' employee said she was pulled away from her work on more than one occasion to talk with him about his relationship. Those conversations consisted of Perkins talking about his dates, text messages and possible future with the city employee.
Perkins' employee said these conversations would happen "very loudly with the door open."
In one conversation, Perkins talked to his employee about a recent trip he had taken to Las Vegas with the city employee. During that conversation, Perkins reportedly told her how many times the couple had sex and other intimate details.
"Throughout their relationship, Mr. Perkins shared with [his employee] every detail, conversation, and text message unprompted," the report said.
When the couple returned from their trip, Perkins' employee said the city employee stopped responding to his calls and text messages. She claimed this "sent Mr. Perkins into a spiral" that was noticeable to everyone around him. He reportedly didn't understand why the city employee stopped communicating with him and even sent her a bouquet of flowers to try and reconcile their relationship.
Perkins ultimately texted the city employee, accepting that their relationship was over and telling her he would cancel their upcoming plans, according to his employee. The city employee reportedly wanted to remain friends, so she agreed to meet with Perkins to talk.
During that conversation, Perkins' employee said the two talked about their relationship and the city employee revealed she wasn't interested in him. She said she didn't want to pursue anything further because she felt the two were not compatible. Perkins reportedly accepted this and told the city employee there would be no change in their professional relationship.
Once the relationship ended, Perkins' employee said the city employee reached out to Perkins about a previous performance assessment review (PAR). Perkins' employee provided HR with a copy of that email exchange, in which the city employee asked HR to have a negative PAR replaced with a more recent and positive one in her employee file. When HR told her she couldn't do that, she forwarded the email to Perkins with the message "FYI... I was under the impression that my old PAR that [name redacted] gave me that was super low was being taken out of my employee file."
Perkins' employee also claimed the city employee asked him to investigate a police officer that was on administrative leave. She reportedly told Perkins that the officer was one of her close friends and she wanted him to "do anything he could to get them not to lay off the officer." Perkins reportedly looked into it and found out the officer in question was under investigation for rape of a minor. He told the city employee there was nothing he "could or should" do about it, to which she allegedly said the officer was "a longtime friend and standup guy."
The city employee met with the HR department again on June 27. This time, she spoke with HR about some of the statements made by Perkins' employee. The city employee confirmed all of the claims made by Perkins' employee, only saying her friend mentioned previously worked for the streets department, not the police department.
As the investigation continued, HR learned Perkins was warned about being romantically involved with coworkers by Mayor Woodward in June of 2021. Perkins reportedly asked a female city employee out on a date but was explicitly told by Woodward "he was not to pursue or try to date any female in the workplace going forward."
When Perkins' resigned, the HR investigation into him concluded. The HR department concluded that Perkins directly violated the City of Spokane's Sexual Harassment Policy by using inappropriate language in the workplace, creating a hostile work environment, showing a lack of respect for other employees and other factors.
Perkins responded to the city's report Tuesday in a statement through his attorney. In his response, Perkins categorically denied that he engaged in inappropriate conduct or violated city policies.
He claimed the report's conclusions were based on inaccuracies and false information, and denied sharing any intimate details about his relationship with any of the witnesses or anyone at the city of Spokane. He also said he received permission from HR to pursue a relationship with the city employee and was never told by Mayor Woodward he was not allowed to do so.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.