Mattawa mayor apologizes for day care actions

MATTAWA, Wash. -- The mayor of Mattawa apologized to a group of Latina day care providers Sunday for having complained about them to state investigators eight years ago.

After a private, hour-and-a-half meeting in a school gymnasium here, the workers called it a "small step" toward easing racial tensions in this small agricultural community.

It was the first time Mayor Judy Esser met with and answered questions from some of the providers who'd been investigated by the state's Department of Social and Health Services in 2001 and 2002. The requirement for a meeting and formal apology were included in a $55,000 settlement earlier this year between the town of Mattawa and the providers.

"We hope this means we can now have real dialogue with the city," said Silvia Farias, who was part of the class-action discrimination lawsuit. "At the very least, this has taught us about unity and how by working together we have can have a stronger voice. Hopefully, nobody else has to go through what we went through."

The investigation of 51 providers came after Esser complained to the state that there weren't enough children to support so many providers -- a claim many said was racially motivated. In 2001, roughly 95 percent of Mattawa's 3,000 residents were Latino.

The settlement with the town of Mattawa came one year after the providers settled a separate lawsuit against the state. As a result of that case, the state agreed to give child care workers proper notice before an investigation and not use bogus legal documents to enter private homes to seize records. A federal judge also approved a $2.45 million settlement on behalf of the providers.

A half-dozen women who attended Sunday's meeting said Esser told them that she complained to the state only after hearing a complaint from someone else that providers were getting state funding to care for children who did not exist. Investigators later determined there were no so-called "phantom children."

Although Esser sent the providers a formal apology on the town's letterhead in June, scheduling conflicts delayed the actual meeting until Sunday. In the apology, she wrote: "I want to apologize to Mattawa family home child care business owners for all the suffering I caused by requesting the state's investigation without sufficient information ... I know that the town and its employees look forward to working cooperatively with you in the future."

Esser could not be reached for comment Sunday evening.

Ty Duhamel, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services in Wenatchee who represented some of the workers, said he was pleased Esser took responsibility for her actions.

"She caused a lot of pain and suffering for people who all they were doing (was) caring for children," he said.

* Melissa Sánchez can be reached at 509-577-7675 or msanchez@yakimaherald.com.