Bonner County Planner Quits, Blasts Officials Competency, Professionalism, Ethics Of New Commissioners Questioned In Letter

One of Bonner County’s assistant planners has quit his post, saying he can’t work with new Commissioners Bud Mueller and Larry Allen, whom he called incompetent and unethical.

Doug Libby worked as a county planner for three years. He resigned Friday to take another planning job in California, but sent commissioners a scathing letter of resignation. Libby accused commissioners of holding illegal meetings and questioned Mueller’s education after he resorted to reading scripts to run county meetings.

“This decision is the result of myself questioning the competency of the new board, the lack of professionalism demonstrated toward the public and department heads, and finally, the ethics and priorities the new board has displayed,” Libby wrote.

Commissioner Allen said he has not yet seen Libby’s letter but talked with him before he left. The conversation was “congenial” and Libby never mentioned any problems.

“It beats me why he did it,” Allen said. “I would think the media would have learned a lesson previously about just listening to and printing everything a disgruntled employee might say, which is not always accurate.”

Mueller was unavailable for comment.

Since the new commissioners took office in January, they have been accused and are being sued for holding illegal meetings, including one where they voted to abolish the building department.

Libby said Mueller and Allen violated the Open Meeting Law again this month when they drove together to the Blue Diamond Marina at Priest Lake. The marina owner is seeking county approval for a controversial expansion project.

The proposal will be heard by the planning commission Thursday night. The commissioners ultimately may have to decide the issue and are supposed to remain impartial.

“Their (commissioners) purpose was to view and discuss the proposal with the applicant prior to the public hearing,” Libby said. “This is an extreme example of … contact that is not only unethical but illegal.”

Allen confirmed he and Mueller went to the marina and met with the owner as well as an opponent of the expansion project. Allen said he intended to go alone because of all the letters he received from people objecting to the proposal. Mueller decided to go along at the last minute.

“I wasn’t sure if that was OK and said we are not going to discuss the proposal with each other or anybody else and just go up and look at the marina,” Allen said. “Whether it should have happened? Probably not. But I don’t think it was any big deal or violation of any law. It was a very benign type of thing.”

Attorney Scott Reed is suing the county for other open meeting violations and represents the homeowners association at Priest Lake. The association opposes the marina expansion. Reed said the trip by Mueller and Allen was illegal. The two are a quorum of the three-member board and never notified the public of their meeting.

“If two of them are there that constitutes a meeting and they are not supposed to do that,” Reed said. “The whole decision of what’s going to happen up there is pending.

It hasn’t even come to the commissioners yet, so the question is what are they doing?”

Libby said commissioners campaigned on opening government to the public. Instead, they have met illegally, and provided information to the public, department heads and their fellow commissioner at the last minute before making decisions.

Libby said he’s explained the county’s public hearing procedures to the new commissioners, but they still do not follow the rules.

Mueller has even had the secretary write out a verbatim script for him to use to conduct some meetings, he says.

“I have witnessed the chair (Mueller) struggle with following these procedures and struggling with reading and speaking complete sentences,” Libby said. “All of this has forced me to question the ability and competency of the new board.”

, DataTimes