Washington County Commissioner Kathryn Harrington will leave office Oct. 2, less than a week after she gave the middle finger to a fellow commissioner during a public meeting.

Harrington's at-large chair seat covers Bethany, Cedar Mill, Oak Hills and West Haven-Sylvan. Her departure leaves four commissioners on the board and an open seat with no confirmed process for filling the vacancy.

Harrington announced her resignation Monday, Sept. 21, in a release from the Washington County Administrative Office, as first reported by the Beaverton Valley Times. Vice Chair Jerry Willey will preside over board meetings until the resignation takes effect. Harrington will not accept internal or external meetings and has lost security access to county facilities.

"I am grateful to the people of Washington County for the opportunity to serve them in our local county government," Harrington said in her statement.

The resignation follows a Sept. 15 work session in which Harrington asked Commissioner Nafisa Fai to "stop getting in the way of my sightline" to Commissioner Jason Snider, then scooted her chair to the side and raised her middle finger at Fai. Fai was seated next to Snider, with Harrington at the head of the table.

Two days later, Commissioners Snider, Willey and Pam Treece issued a joint statement condemning Harrington's conduct as unacceptable and urging her to resign or face formal censure. The three had planned to bring a censure resolution before the board at an Oct. 1 meeting, according to the Hillsboro News-Times. That vote is now moot.

The proposed censure would have stripped Harrington of meeting facilitation duties, removed her as primary liaison to county staff, required her to attend meetings virtually, revoked her security access and asked her to reduce her compensation to insurance-only payments.

Harrington initially resisted stepping down. On Sept. 17, she announced she would step back from her chair duties to seek mental health treatment but said she did not plan to resign. Her term was set to run through Jan. 3, 2027. She had already chosen not to seek reelection.

Commissioner Fai, the target of Harrington's gesture, did not join the three commissioners calling for resignation. In a Sept. 18 interview with the Valley Times, Fai said, "I have not called for her resignation. I'm focused on the people's work and moving our county forward and leaving the decision to resign or not to resign to Kathryn Harrington."

Commissioner Snider, in an official statement released Sept. 21, said the remaining commissioners would work to ensure a seamless transition.

Harrington was first elected to the board in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Her tenure included a 2021 complaint from former chief of staff Elizabeth Mazzara Myers that led to an $80,000 settlement covering lost wages, benefits and legal fees, according to the Hillsboro News-Times. An independent investigation substantiated three of four areas examined as violations of county human resources policies.

The board has stated it has no authority under the Washington County charter or state law to remove a commissioner. How the county will fill the vacancy has not been announced. Fai and Treece face each other in a Nov. 3 runoff to succeed Harrington as county chair.