County could lose ability to issue vehicle and boat licenses

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 12, 2026

Grays Harbor County Auditor Joesph R. MacLean (R) has been issued his second breach of contract notice related to Washington Department of Licensing (DOL) vehicle and vessel licensing responsibilities.

These issues revolve around repeated significant audit findings and failure to provide sufficient oversight of the activities in his office, including the county’s two subagents, dating back to 2021, according to a Jan. 6 email sent to the Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners from Molly Voris, Legislative and Policy Director for the DOL.

State law allows the DOL to appoint county auditors (or another county government official) as an “agent” of DOL to perform transactions on behalf of the agency. County auditors can also request the DOL to appoint “subagents” and these subagents report to county auditors. There are two subagents in Grays Harbor County — the Hoquiam License Agency and Timberland Bank.

“Ideally, we would like to see this situation turn around,” Voris wrote. “However, given the history of significant audit findings and the County Auditor’s failure to remedy, DOL could be forced to intervene and terminate our contract with the County Auditor if immediate action is not taken. If that happens, Grays Harbor County could lose all the revenue associated with the licensing work.”

Voris’ email stated, “In the past year, the county received over $640,000 in funds from vehicle licensing.”

In a “written notice of Level II Breach” from DOL Director Marcus J. Glapser sent to MacLean via email, 16 discoveries in a 2025 audit were identified and categorized this way — five Major Findings (significant deficiencies in management controls); two Minor Findings (notable management-led process changes needed); and nine Training Opportunities (additional, focused training needed).

Of the 16 discoveries, eight were repeat discoveries from prior years’ audits. These findings date back to 2021 and two of the items are similar to the recent findings in the 2024 financial audit performed by the Washington State Auditor’s Office — failure to respond (or late responses) to information requested to perform the audit and late or not completed monthly inventory audits.

Audits and reviews have found issues with noncompliance with oversight responsibilities and transaction accuracy.

Perhaps the most glaring in Glasper’s notice involves the Hoquiam License Agency, “which processes nearly 75% of the county’s transaction volume. Fifteen discoveries were identified:

Office Over/Under: three cash overages with no review notes, two processed incorrectly.

Value Exceptions: A spot-check of 19 transactions showed 12 discoveries leading to potential under-collection of fees of over $10,000.

The 2025 DOL audit also found a failure to audit the Hoquiam License Agency.

“Audit requirements are in place to protect the public’s personal information and to ensure revenue accountability. Your pattern of repeat audit findings and disregard of your oversight responsibilities is a cause of great concern. You have failed to remedy discrepancies and have not been able to sustain improvement efforts, negatively impacting your subagents and the public,” Glasper wrote. “If you continue to disregard your Agreement obligations, DOL will evaluate whether a Level III Breach and suspension of your activities as DOL Licensing Agent is necessary.”

MacLean has been given 15 calendar days from the receipt of the notice to “provide a written response containing acknowledgement of the inappropriate conduct and address a corrective action plan to remedy the items disclosed in this notice.”

MacLean defeated the incumbent appointed auditor, Chris Thomas (D), in the 2018 election, and won re-election unopposed in 2022.