King County Ombuds finds PHSKC program manager Willard Jimerson violated Ethics Code — undisclosed financial ties to Freedom Project subcontractor on gun violence grant

The King County Office of the Ombuds found in September 2024 that PHSKC program manager Willard Jimerson violated the County Ethics Code by recommending Freedom Project as a subcontractor on a $4 million-plus gun violence grant while simultaneously invoicing and accepting funds from Freedom Project through his own company, without disclosing the relationship to his King County supervisor.

What happened

Willard Jimerson was hired by Seattle-King County Public Health on March 9, 2020, as a Term Limited Temporary (TLT) Project/Program Manager III. He worked on the Zero Youth Detention (ZYD) initiative and was involved in the Regional Peacekeepers Collective (RPKC) program, which was formed in June 2021.

The Ombuds report establishes that at the time of his King County hire, Jimerson had an outside business called United Better Thinking LLC (UBT), registered with the Washington Secretary of State at the same address as Freedom Project of Washington State. An 11/6/2020 email signed by Jimerson under UBT’s Articles of Incorporation stated: “In the event of a voluntary dissolution, the distribution of any remaining assets will be distributed to The Freedom Project of Washington State.”

The County’s gun violence reduction grant flowed through Community Passageways (CP) as the lead community partner agency. The grant terms allowed CP to choose its own subcontractors. Freedom Project was selected as one of those subcontractors. The Ombuds report finds that Jimerson recommended Freedom Project for that subcontractor role while simultaneously receiving payments from Freedom Project through UBT and through Str8-Up Cleaning LLC.

Financial records reviewed by the Ombuds show:

• $227,820 paid by Freedom Project to Willard C. Jimerson Jr. directly between February 2020 and July 2022.
• $61,500 paid by Freedom Project to United Better Thinking LLC between August 2022 and July 2023.
• $34,070 paid by Freedom Project to Str8-Up Cleaning LLC between December 2022 and January 2023.
• $188,740 in UBT invoices to Freedom Project across December 2020 to February 2023, of which $42,000 in corresponding checks were verified.

In a court declaration cited in the Ombuds report (from case 20-3-04691-8), Jimerson stated: “In my job for King County, I net approximately $5,300 per month. I also act as a consultant for the Freedom Project. As an independent contractor under United Better Thinking, I earn approximately $6,500 per month gross, even though payments of $8k-$10k are shown.”

The complaint was filed by PHSKC Deputy Director Hikari Tamura on August 17, 2023. Jimerson’s King County employment ended September 28, 2023. The Ombuds report issued nearly a year later, on September 16, 2024.

What the primary source says

The Ombuds Ethics Findings and Order in Case 2023-00579 states: “Based upon the testimony and documentary evidence the Ombuds Office received and reviewed, we find it reasonable to believe Mr. Jimerson violated the King County Ethics code. We find that Mr. Jimerson had financial dealings that presented an actual or apparent conflict of interest between the public trust and private interest by recommending Freedom Project as a subcontractor to CP while invoicing and accepting funds from Freedom Project without disclosing that relationship to Mr. Jimerson’s King County supervisor.”

The Order cites violations of KCC 3.04.015(A) (policy on conflict of interest), 3.04.020(B), (C), and (D) (just and equitable treatment), 3.04.030(A) (conflict of interest), 3.04.030(B)(3) and (B)(4) (forms of conflict), and 3.04.037 (duty to notify supervisor). The Order imposed a civil penalty of $7,100 and notified Jimerson of his right to appeal to the King County Board of Ethics within 20 days under KCC 3.04.057(A).

The report also states: “The Ombuds Office provided Mr. Jimerson an opportunity to respond to the complaint in writing. We did not receive a response by the date provided.”

Status

Jimerson’s King County employment was terminated September 28, 2023, prior to the Ombuds finding. The Ombuds report was distributed to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and to the King County Board of Ethics. The public record reviewed for this entry does not include a Board of Ethics appeal outcome or any subsequent criminal charging decision by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Why it’s in the registry

This case is the second documented Freedom Project nexus case in the registry, alongside the Yolanda McGhee DCHS self-dealing case (KC-2025-002). The two cases are not directly connected by program (McGhee ran Liberated Village in DCHS; Jimerson worked in PHSKC’s ZYD/RPKC portfolio), but they share a Freedom Project subcontractor relationship and the same structural conflict-of-interest pattern: a County employee with an undisclosed financial interest in a nonprofit that received County funds through a program the employee influenced. The combination puts the Freedom Project nexus on documented-tier evidence across two County departments.

Reform implication

The conflict of interest existed at the moment Jimerson was hired in March 2020. Standard onboarding did not surface his outside business. When Freedom Project was selected as a subcontractor on a grant Jimerson influenced, no disclosure requirement triggered. The Ombuds finding came in 2024 because PHSKC’s Deputy Director filed a complaint after an internal audit found irregularities. That is exactly the kind of accountability gap an independent Inspector General reporting to the County Council would close prospectively rather than retroactively. See [reform: independent_inspector_general] and [reform: ethics_enforcement_teeth].