The Hillsboro Herald featured an opinion piece last week regarding recent reports about Clean Water Services of Washington County. The massive agency that handles stormwater and sewer processing for over 600,000 customers has come under fire due to unusual activities and spending. The Herald story Things Appear Very Dirty At Clean Water Services As Lavish Spending And More Surfaces generated thousands of reads and a very active comments section. Current and former employees of CWS have contacted the Herald and is following up on that information. A series of public information requests have/will be sent to the Agency in the hopes of a transparent exchange of factual information. Look for a series of stories that will follow.
For additional context of irregular spending and business practices, read the hard-hitting journalistic work of Jamie Goldberg of The Oregonian. This is what great Journalism looks like:
The information coming out paints a picture of an agency out of control with spending running wild at the same time that rate payers struggle under the weight of annual rate increases year after year. The buck has to stop somewhere, so we wanted to understand how much CWS CEO Diane Taniguchi-Dennis is being paid.. Her salary is not published on the CWS website. Estimates by the Oregonian staff of $400,000 a year probably do not include the $60,000 additional income she reportedly received from Clean Water Insurance Company in Hawaii. We cannot know for sure until Clean Water Services provides full transparency on this matter. All reports indicate Taniguchi-Dennis is the highest-paid public executive in the State, or among them.
According to the Oregon Open Data Portal, only seven (7) state agency positions in Oregon pay more than $400,000 a year in salary.
In the search for factual information, we turned to GovSalaries.com. The website service is designed to create transparency:
GovSalaries.com is a website that aggregates and provides publicly available salary information for government employees in the United States. It aims to provide transparency regarding how taxpayer money is spent on public sector compensation.
Taniguchi-Dennis has stated in an email to the CWS staff that she is committed to transparency. The Herald certainly would like to see that happen, and the sooner the better for everyone involved and Washington County’s taxpayers.
Using the GovSalaries.com data on Diane Taniguchi-Dennis, the Herald found the following:
2019
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis Overview
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis in 2019 was employed at Clean Water Services and had an annual salary of $256,434 according to govsalaries.com public records. This salary was 193 percent higher than the average and 204 percent higher than the median salary in Clean Water Services.
2021
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis Overview
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis in 2021 was employed at Clean Water Services and had an annual salary of $380,408 according to govsalaries.com public records. This salary was 306 percent higher than the average and 333 percent higher than the median salary in Clean Water Services.
In year 2021 Diane Taniguchi-Dennis’s salary was 21 percent higher than average Chief Executive Officer salary in the state of Oregon.
2022
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis Overview
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis in 2022 was employed at Clean Water Services and had an annual salary of $393,801 according to govsalaries.com public records. This salary was 313 percent higher than the average and 332 percent higher than the median salary in Clean Water Services.
Clean Water Services records show Diane Taniguchi-Dennis S held two jobs from 2017 to 2023. From 2019 to 2023 Diane Taniguchi-Dennis held job of Chief Executive Officer.
In year 2022 Diane Taniguchi-Dennis’s salary was 25 percent higher than average Chief Executive Officer salary in the state of Oregon.
2023
Diane Taniguchi-Dennis in 2023 was employed at Clean Water Services and had an annual salary of $538,274 according to govsalaries.com public records. This salary was 432 percent higher than the average and 462 percent higher than the median salary in Clean Water Services.
Clean Water Services records show Diane Taniguchi-Dennis S held two jobs from 2017 to 2023. From 2019 to 2023 Diane Taniguchi-Dennis held job of Chief Executive Officer.
In year 2023 Diane Taniguchi-Dennis’s salary was 72 percent higher than average Chief Executive Officer salary in the state of Oregon.
According to data available from GovSalaries.com, the increase in her annual salary is astounding.
Here’s the percentage increase in salary for each year, calculated from the provided data:
- 2019: No percentage increase is available, as there is no prior year to compare to.
- 2021: The salary increased by 48.35% compared to 2019.
- 2022: The salary increased by 3.52% compared to 2021.
- 2023: The salary increased by 36.69% compared to 2022.
If these figures are accurate, Diane Taniguchi-Dennis earns thousands of dollars more annually than the top-paid employee in the State of Oregon. If she is being paid as the Chair of the Insurance company, the spread would be even larger.
We strive for accuracy. The Hillsboro Herald looks forward to CWS publishing or providing information about Diana Taniguchi-Dennis’s salary and complete compensation package, as well as that of the agency’s Executive team. In addition, because Clean Water Service owns Clean Water Insurance Company and controls the Board, a full accounting of all public employees and others receiving salaries, stipends, and other compensation should be made public.
Understanding the flow of millions of dollars in salaries and travel costs, and a Hawaiian insurance company, may be the tip of the iceberg of much bigger organizational waste. The taxpayers of Washington County can look to the County Commissioners for answers. The question is, with facts coming out about some of them receiving trips and benefits from their oversight of the behemoth sewer organization, will any of them act?
Calls for an outside independent audit are happening as this article is written.
WHISTLEBLOWERS WANTED
Many of you at CWS know more than anyone and have nothing to do with this. I offer you total anonymity and protection if you want to talk, meet up, or email me anonymously. I can be reached on Facebook and Instagram at hillsboroherald@gmail.com or at my phone number, 503-799-8383. Someone needs to say something. Reach out, Please!
Outrageous!! Thank you for this investigative article!