Washington County did not purchase the property in the City of Weiser at the behest of the new County Prosecutor. The County was having meetings about purchasing “a property” in Weiser before the new Prosecutor was even employed by the County (after he won the primary). The Prosecutor had nothing to do with the purchase. The Commissioners advised everyone in their County Meetings that they had no space for an office in the any County building that would accommodate the incoming Prosecutor and his staff. Their solution was to purchase a place.
I believe the questions we in the County would like answered are: Why did the City of Weiser wait so long to make a fuss about it? Why was the zone changed for that building, when it was once zoned for a business? Why can’t it just as easily be rezoned again for a business? Why doesn’t Weiser want the new Prosecutor in that building, when clearly that same street houses lawyers offices, fast food businesses, churches, and other non-residential parcels?
If I were a neighbor of the property housing the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, I would think that a “good thing,” because it is unlikely that unsavory characters, or thieves, would be milling about because of the frequent presence of Sheriffs Deputies. Seems to me like a win-win for that neighborhood.
Carolyn Kiesz
Midvale, ID
