Agency’s Drug Probe Hangover Persists

Nearly a year after a prolonged undercover drug investigation culminated in the firing of more than a dozen employees, a newly released study suggests the county’s sanitation agency’s work force is still suffering from some of the operation’s aftereffects.

The Sanitation Districts of Orange County conducted a survey of its 600 employees that found low morale persists. About 60% of those completing a confidential questionnaire disagreed that “over the last year, I think things have generally improved in the districts,” while 78% disagreed with the statement that morale at the agency was improving.

Officials attributed the results in part to last year’s undercover investigation by a private security firm that turned up evidence that employees used and sold methamphetamines, marijuana and cocaine while at work.

Last November, the agency fired 19 of the implicated workers, while an additional 14 resigned voluntarily. More than 60 other workers received some form of discipline, ranging from suspensions to written warnings.

“You have to expect that such a major event is going to leave some people uneasy and nervous,” said Michelle Tuchman, spokeswoman for the agency. “We expected this kind of uneasiness after the workplace investigation. But we also believe things are improving.”

Agency officials have declined to reveal exactly how Confidential Management Services Inc. gathered its evidence. But several employees said the investigation involved sending undercover security agents into the agency’s two waste treatment plants posing as workers--a tactic that dismayed some employees.

Tuchman said the survey was conducted in May and that morale seems to have improved since then. “This was done six months after the work force investigation, just as we completed union contracts, and [while we were] in the middle of performance evaluations,” she said. “I think these were factors.”

Despite indications of low morale, Tuchman said that the survey did show that more than 80% of workers considered the agency a good place to work. In a January 1996 survey, 93% of respondents said the agency was a good place to work.

In the months since the investigation, officials have tried to improve employee-management relations with newsletters, discussion groups and by providing more training to managers.