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A senior investigator with Montgomery County's Office of Human Rights is urging county officials to investigate that office's director for "race- and religion-based discrimination."

Peter A. Mitchell, a lawyer who said he has been an employee of that office since 1984, says James L. Stowe repeatedly has raised his personal religious beliefs in the office and allowed the display of Christian and Jewish religious symbols at a holiday party in December.

In a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon, Stowe said he is also an ordained Baptist minister and that he mentioned his faith when he introduced himself to staff, but does not proselytize or pressure his staff to share his beliefs.

"I do have my own grievances, but this isn't about me," Mitchell said, adding that he was raised a Catholic.

Mitchell's grievances include that he applied for management jobs in the office but says he was passed over for candidates without as much experience in civil rights or legal training.

In a letter dated Oct. 30 to Joseph Adler, the county's human resources director, Mitchell wrote: "It is no coincidence that the current director, the former director and the one before that are all black. This is apparently a political decision and not based on any particular expertise of black individuals for this job."

Adler and an Equal Employment Opportunity officer in Adler's office did not return calls seeking comment.

"Because it's a personnel matter, we can't really comment, even if there's something we'd really like to say," said county spokesman Patrick K. Lacefield.

Some Human Rights Office employees raised questions about Stowe's spending thousands of dollars during tough economic times — and when two investigator positions have been cut — to refit and expand the agency's workspace in the new county library building in Rockville.

Documentation of those expenses released Tuesday show that the county spent almost $78,000 to renovate what had been an archive space into two mediation rooms, a break room/service pantry and an adjoining public conference room. More than $24,000 of that was spent to outfit the spaces with furniture, including tables, dozens of chairs and presentation boards.

County spokeswoman Donna Bigler said money set aside for positions that had gone unfilled for months, including the director's job, paid for the renovations.

Stowe said the Office of Human Rights needed space so parties starting mediation can be separated from each other.

He said he also had some heavier glass installed in his office so conversations would not be heard outside.

Another $3,075 paid for putting the county logo on glass and office door signs, at what Stowe said seems to be the "rack rate."

Flowers for a seriously ill employee cost the county about $235. Stowe did not know the county does not pay for such purchases, but has learned since and no longer charges flowers, he said.

As for the religious symbols, Mitchell said Stowe should have realized that the holiday party should have been secular.

That Stowe did not is a shortcoming of someone in that position and "very ironic, given that we are an organization that enforces the county's anti-discrimination law," Mitchell said.

Lacefield said the administration's policy is to respect all faiths, but that there is no written policy.

Mitchell's complaints about religious discussions, holiday party decorations and "other concerns" were sent in a letter, dated Dec. 29, to county Chief Administrative Officer Timothy L. Firestine.

So far, "we feel they've kind of circled the wagons," said another employee in Stowe's office, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. "We've seen no response or that anyone is paying attention."

Mitchell said that Stowe moved him from an office with a window to an interior office in September.

Stowe said he needed to make the window office, adjacent to his own, into a conference room, Mitchell said.

The Municipal and County Government Employees Organization has requested that the Office of Human Resources investigate the complaint, said Gino Renne, president of the union.

Renne said confidentiality provisions in the labor agreement prohibit him from detailing the complaint, but "we don't do it frequently or lightly."