MOSES LAKE - Two Moses Lake Irrigation & Rehabilitation District employees and the board chairman expressed their frustrations with board candidate Mick Hansen during Tuesday night's meeting.

No one was escorted from the meeting, but board Chairman Ron Covey said he had a uniformed officer present.

The officer wasn't visible to much of the audience. Covey later said a Sgt. Jones was in the office behind board members' seats.

The public airing of their differences came after district administrative assistant Julie Smith alleged she was threatened by Hansen during a board election workshop on Nov. 1, according to a Moses Lake police report.

Hansen, of Moses Lake, ran against Covey in the irrigation district election last year and was defeated. He is running again, but for position 2, which is held by Norm Benson. The election is Dec. 13 and, according to state law, is handled by irrigation district staff, not the Grant County Elections Department.

Smith told police Hansen told her he was going to "lay traps" for her so "this time so you better watch it."

District staff records the board meetings and a copy of the tape was requested by the Columbia Basin Herald this week. The official tape was not immediately available by deadline, but can be heard by visiting www.columbiabasinherald.com in the near future.

"She feels threatened as she does not know what exactly he meant, either about the election or against her personally," the police report stated.

At Tuesday's meeting, Smith read a letter to the audience and asked to have it entered into the record.

Smith described her 23.5 years of banking and finance experience, 10 years as a paralegal and working as a guardian ad litem for the elderly and children.

She is a five-year employee of the irrigation district.

"Director (Rich) Archer recently presented a list of changes he would like to see under the guise of 'helping the board and the public feel more confident in the vote,'" she wrote. "This suggestion is a direct insult to the way the absentee ballots were processed under my direction, done faithfully in accordance with the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). Mr. Archer's friend, Mick Hansen, has openly accused me of mishandling the absentee ballots in the 2010 election and recently threatened me in a public setting. The election process is outlined in the RCWs which leaves no room for question."

"In all my years of employment, I have never been treated this way," Smith wrote. "Neither has my character or integrity been ruthlessly attacked in this manner."

Curt Carpenter, the district's general manager, read a statement into the record, describing his more than 24 years of working for four different government agencies.

"I am a licensed professional and have served as an expert witness in several court cases," he wrote. "In all this time, I have never had my integrity or ethics questioned. Nor have I, nor any of my associates, to the best of my knowledge, ever experienced continual harassment by one individual."

Carpenter accused Hansen of "going over the line in comments directed at a staff member of MLIRD, as has been the case several times in the past."

"Each of the five full-time staff employees of MLIRD is a hard-working professional," Carpenter wrote. "Each was hired after due process to perform specific, job-related functions. Each has established an exceptional record of job performance in carrying out their respective duties in conformity with oversight, my instructions and all applicable local, state and federal laws. I commend their service and accomplishments on behalf of the district rate payers."

Board chair Covey claimed at more than one board meeting this year, "the meeting has degenerated into unprofessional conduct, inappropriate behavior, threats toward our staff and/or threats of violence, profanity, disrespectful conduct and the loss of propriety and common courtesy."

"This is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated," Covey said.

The board meetings are governed by the district's Code of Conduct and Decorum. A copy of the rules is given to meeting attendees.

If Covey believes the rules of proper conduct are violated, the "violator will be asked to leave the premises immediately," he said.

After Covey spoke, Board Director Rich Archer said things went fine during the Nov. 1 meeting and Covey made it sound like "the meeting was a mess," when it wasn't.

"In my opinion, this (Covey's) letter is a little bit sided," Archer said.

Hansen said he "felt very let down" after the Nov. 1 meeting because all of the agenda items were "pretty well white washed and went over the top. You basically accomplished nothing with the study session other than the way you wanted it."

He clarified his remarks to Smith. He said if the district doesn't allow checks and balances into the system, he would ask people to help by marking their ballots to ensure they were counted.

Covey told the Columbia Basin Herald that he believes numbering ballots is illegal.

"I was pretty upset with the situation," Hansen said. "That wasn't meant to upset anybody."

Covey said he explained at the time, the district was going to follow the Revised Code of Washington and relied on its legal council to give them the proper direction.