Private investigation clears planning office

The results of a third-party investigation into Flathead County Planning and Zoning staff released last week cleared planners of allegations of improprieties.

This included accusations of wrongdoing by the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan Committee in the process of developing the plan.

"It feels good to be vindicated," LNPC Chair Debbie Spaulding said. "Hopefully, we can move on."

Kalispell-based Moonlight Detective Agency was hired in July and paid $10,000 by the Flathead County Commissioners to look into complaints against the planning office made by the American Dream Montana property-rights group and other private citizens.

Private investigator William "Ike" Eisentraut released an 800-page report detailing his examination of 29 allegations Wednesday, Jan. 27.

These included allegations of favoritism, pushing an agenda, defamation, extortion, illegal destruction of public records, and noncompliance with county regulations and state statutes.

"I found no wrongdoing by the planning staff," Eisentraut wrote in the synopsis of his report.

For the full report, Eisentraut also "interrogated" County Planning Director Jeff Harris during eight sessions totaling 25 hours. While Eisentraut did write that he found no wrongdoings, he did cite areas where Harris, and even in one case the commissioners, could have had a "better performance."

"I sincerely believe that anyone who makes the effort could have a subdivision or condo complex anywhere in the county where it is permitted, without worry that they are going to run into an anti-planning office," Eisentraut wrote.

Eisentraut holds the commissioners' "feet to the fire" in a case involving Bigfork. In this case, Flathead County Commissioners released the collateral for Saddlehorn prior to the terms being met from an agreement with the Bigfork Fire District.

The fire hydrants were not operable, the hydrants did not meet requirements for backfill and height, and the gravel shoulders did not have appropriate backfill, according to Nat O'Farrell, assistant fire chief, in the report. Eisentraut found that the planning office had done everything it was supposed to, even verbally notifying commissioners of the possibility that the work was not completed, but he was less impressed with the commissioners' decision.

"If the situation at Saddlehorn is as the Bigfork Fire District contends, and I'm not saying it is, hopefully it will be completed prior to a tragedy," Eisentraut wrote. "If someone were to twist my arm to render an opinion in this case, I would probably have to say that when the county commissioners released the Saddlehorn SIA bond, it was not their finest hour."

During a press conference last week, the county commissioners expressed confidence in Eisentraut's report.

"I'm confident in his abilities," said Commissioner Jim Dupont, who also noted that he was acquainted with Eisentraut and had worked with him before.

The commissioners contracted with Eisentraut for the report back in July after a number of accusations had been made against the planning office.

They said they hoped the report would bring closure to these issues.

"In my opinion, American Dream Montana has no credibility," Commissioner Joe Brenneman said. "Not a single allegation was valid."

Dupont said he hoped in the future differences of opinion could be dealt with through dialogue.

"We can all sit down and talk about it, and that's what we need to do more of," he said.

Though members of American Dream Montana hadn't yet finished reading the report last week, they were already questioning the results of the investigation.

"What I have read so far appears to be more fiction and revisionist history than a legitimate investigation," Chairman Russ Crowder said.

Prior to the release of the report, Crowder sent out a statement based on "inside information" on its results, expressing disappointment.

"Flathead County has significantly 'lowered the bar' in terms of the future treatment county property owners can expect when it comes to the county recognizing, respecting and protecting their rights as property owners." Crowder wrote. "This is not a conclusion that county property owners will find acceptable."

Crowder said the organization plans to hold public meetings to explain the report in a few weeks.

The full investigation report is available online at http://flathead.mt.gov/commissioner.

Lakeside

Neighborhood Plan

Case 14 in Eisentraut's report is particularly relevant to the community of Lakeside as its results will also play a role in a pending lawsuit and request for an injunction to stop the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan filed in Flathead District Court. The hearing on the suit had been continued pending the results of this investigation.

Allegations included that the LNPC was not legally formed, that there were secret meetings held in homes that were not open to the public or properly noticed, that a secret Web site was used to conduct meetings and that public records were destroyed.

Eisentraut found that LNPC was legally formed by the Lakeside Community Council.

Confusion had taken place when county attorney Jonathan Smith had assumed that the county commissioners had approved the committee, when in fact it was only required to have been appointed by the chair of the council as per its bylaws.

Twelve meetings were held in private homes due to personal issues of one of the members. Meetings were open and noticed and members of the community other than committee members attended, according to the report. It is not illegal, he noted, to have meetings at private homes, "it's just not a good idea."

As soon as the planning office became aware of sessions in private homes, they stopped it, he writes.

Eisentraut found that the Yahoo group site that had come under fire was used as an "administrative logistic center" and more of a mail distribution group – where members would receive e-mails about upcoming meetings and pull copies of documents.

Documents could not be changed or edited in the Yahoo site, according to the report.

Eisentraut said that meetings are not possible through Yahoo sites and no decisions were made through it, according to the records he has gone through.

"If you can't conference and you can't chat, you can't have a meeting, you can't have a quorum," he said. "If you ask a question and someone answers it today, another answers tomorrow and the third answers in a week, that is not a meeting."

Eisentraut says he does not think public records were destroyed.

"I could not prove that and I tired," Eisentraut wrote.

In talking to committee secretary Barb Miller, Eisentraut said her priority in deletions from the Yahoo site were meeting reminders and posted document reminders.

"These were the things that she swears she deleted," he wrote. "Since torture is no longer an option in the U.S., I have to take her word for that."

He writes that from the e-mails and actual items that can be seen on the log, nothing indicates public records were destroyed, as preliminary drafts and anything used for reference materials are not considered public records.