Letter to the Editor-Fact Check-Kirk Chandler

I appreciate Debbie for encouraging everyone to get involved with what is going on in the county. Citizens that are informed and get involved with the county government really can make a difference. It would be nice though if we got the complete facts. It seems that so often we can state a fact, use a quote from a meeting and only tell part of the story, only the part we want to point out. 1. July 2024, the P&Z commission did give the commissioners a draft ordinance to look at. It was decided to wait until after the election. The question is, what was the guidance given to make those changes? Chris Myers an attorney in Boise, gave an opinion on our code. I would like to know what he was asked by our PA, Delton Walker to fix. Was it whether our code was Constitutional, or to fix what we are doing wrong and making doing wrong right according to the code.  2. Jan 13, 2025, there has been a lot of executive sessions, that is what has to happen when there are problems that need to be fixed that have to do with personal or liable issues. 3. May 5, Prosecutor Pearce did ask for a legal opinion on our Code. He doesn’t have to get the Commissioners okay to do that. He is an elected official. His job is to keep the County from being sued by having a code that is Constitutional and follows the law. What he did is what he was elected to do. What happened here is that Commissioner Marvin and Harberd did not follow his advice, as Commissioner Marvin stated on record when asked by Mr. Carol. 4. May 12, Nate Marvin did make the motion and they all voted in favor. What didn’t happen was Bonnie and the P&Z commission including Debbie decided not to follow the commissioner’s motion. The prosecutor’s job is to handle legal issues. When someone files a tort claim or a lawsuit against the county it is the Prosecutor’s responsibility to settle the claim, either to take it to court and represent the county or settle it. Then if there is a settlement the County Commissioner’s agree, that is what happened. State code does not give the commissioners the authority to do legal work, they are the supervisors of the county. 5. May 19, 27^th, Commissioner Marvin and Harberd did take the advice of certain members of the county, if you want to know who, look up the minutes of that meeting, to enact a moratorium on giving out building permits in the county. It was an emergency moratorium. There was not an emergency in my opinion. Commissioner Wilkerson voted no, because Prosecutor Pearce had advised them not to do it. The reason they had to go back and amend it twice is it wasn’t an emergency and the moratorium was written poorly. 6. May 23, Mr. Jaeger was served by our prosecutor for giving legal interpretations, because as the P&Z Chairman he didn’t have the right, personally or as the Chairman to ask for that legal opinion. 7. June 17^th, the P&Z commissioners did vote no confidence in the prosecutor. The P&Z commission are supposed to be gathering information for the commissioners to make a decision of land use issues. The county prosecutor is their legal advice. Prosecutor Walker hired the other attorney because he felt he had a conflict in representing both the commissioners and the P&Z. 8. July 7, Bonnie did resign, she was not following her boss’s guidance or instructions and is being sued for it. The P&Z commissioners were not doing what they were supposed to do either. A good boss will not let their employees disobey their direction. They all decided to go against the commissioner’s advice and needed to be let go, and none of them should be reappointed to the P&Z advisory board.  

The commissioners and prosecutor are now doing what they need to do to straighten out the mess that has been made. The decisions made have put the county in a huge liable position and we the citizens are in a place where we may have to pay for it. We are the ones responsible for electing commissioners that follow the prosecutor’s advice.  When government gets to the point of taking the citizens rights away, especially their property rights, the citizens start to push back. Lawsuits are the first way this happens. We need to elect Commissioners that care about the law and protect our rights and freedoms, not take them away. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea about having to go to the government to get permission to exercise my Constitutional rights. Thank you, Debbie for making those in the county more aware of what is going on. Next time let’s tell the whole story.