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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

County aims for new settlement

Kootenai County is negotiating a second settlement with a suspended sheriff’s captain after the validity of the initial agreement was clouded because the County Commission overstepped its authority.

The agreement was called into question last month after 1st District Administrative Judge Charles Hosack told the commission it didn’t have the authority to hire former Sheriff’s Capt. Sam Grubbs to direct Justice Services.

The position is shared between the district court and the county. Hosack said state law requires the district court to be involved in the hiring process.

Yet the district judges weren’t part of the Feb. 17 agreement between Grubbs, the commission, Sheriff Rocky Watson and the county’s insurance provider.

New settlement negotiations are ongoing, but this time Grubbs, the former jail commander, won’t be guaranteed the Justice Services position.

Kootenai County Commission Chairman Gus Johnson said he hopes the new agreement is reached this week.

“We learned,” Johnson said Friday. “It was just something we weren’t aware of.”

The hire was a key element of the February settlement with Grubbs, who was at the time suspended with pay from the sheriff’s department and under investigation by the Idaho State Police.

Even though the validity of the February settlement is in question, all parties are sticking to the provision that prevents the disclosure of any information about the reason for Grubbs’ Dec. 29 suspension or why Watson requested the ISP investigation. The ISP also declined to provide any information relating to the Grubbs investigation.

Until the new settlement is reached, Grubbs will continue to work for Justice Services. Yet his duties are unclear.

A woman who answered the Justice Services phone Friday said Grubbs didn’t work there and that he only showed up for one week.

Johnson said the county is trying to find things for Grubbs to do and that the commission will meet with the current director today to “work something out.”

“He may end up working even in a different department,” Johnson said. “But he is going to be doing something.”

Reached at home Friday, Grubbs said negotiations are ongoing but referred all questions to his attorney. Coeur d’Alene lawyer Art Bistline didn’t return phone calls.

In the settlement, the sheriff agreed to call off the ISP investigation if Grubbs voluntarily resigned from the department. In exchange, the County Commission would hire Grubbs at the same $67,200 salary to oversee Justice Services, which includes the juvenile detention center and juvenile probation and diversion in addition to adult misdemeanor probation.

The county’s insurance provider would then reimburse the county for Grubbs’ salary.

Grubbs would have replaced Director Allan Friesen, who is scheduled to retire Nov. 30.

The settlement also cleans Grubbs’ personnel record and seals the file on his suspension. Watson also agrees not to release any information about Grubbs to prospective employers other than confirming that he worked for the department beginning in 1988, was promoted to captain in 2001 and voluntarily resigned in February.

The agreement calls for the county’s insurer to pay Grubbs’ Boise attorney $3,500 and states that all other parties are responsible for their own legal costs.

Johnson is frustrated because the county’s legal adviser had firsthand knowledge that the Justice Services position promised to Grubbs was shared by the district court but that the information was never given to the commission. Johnson said the sheriff also was aware of the district court’s involvement but never said anything.

The commission was getting legal advice from a Boise attorney provided by the county’s insurance carrier. The county’s own legal staff wasn’t involved because Grubbs was engaged to County Attorney Erika Ellingsen.

Johnson is adamant that Ellingsen had no involvement in the county’s decision to hire Grubbs for the Justice Services position. He added that the commission had no qualms about hiring Grubbs even though he was under investigation.

“My perspective has always been you’re innocent until proven guilty,” Johnson said, adding that he has never heard anything bad about Grubbs’ job performance and that Watson didn’t “throw up any red flags” during the settlement negotiation.

Watson wouldn’t comment on the reason for Grubbs’ suspension but confirmed that there have been no other investigations or written complaints pertaining to Grubbs other than what was the subject of the investigation.

Watson added that Grubbs has never been formally disciplined and that the sheriff’s department has no records of any alleged civil rights violations.

Watson said he doesn’t believe there was any conflict of interest with Ellingsen giving legal advice to Grubbs in his capacity as the jail commander.

Yet the sheriff said that in hindsight he would never let the appearance of conflict happen again.

“I should have been concerned just for the appearance,” Watson said. “Where is the check and balance?”

He doesn’t believe Grubbs and Ellingsen’s relationship affected his department.

“If he was doing something wrong in the jail and she was covering it up, enough time has passed that it would come forward,” Watson said. “And that has not happened.”