Ex-Employee Alleges Improper Behavior

A former employee of the Shoshone County assessor’s office said he saw a pattern of favoritism and questionable management by assessor Duane “Duke” Little.

Little, who has held the elected position for 25 years, denies the allegations.

In addition to showing that appraiser Casey Stoddard has been allowed to conduct private business on county time, Mike Dancer provided documents indicating that:

Little asked him to reconsider an appraisal of a piece of undeveloped land owned by County Commissioner Jim Vergobbi because the value looked too high. Dancer said the assessor never made that request for anyone except for Vergobbi, a fellow Democrat.

“If I was going to do something like that, I wouldn’t be so obvious,” Little responded.

The Kellogg property is part of a complicated family ownership situation that Vergobbi is trying to sort out. It was appraised for the first time in April 1999 by county employee Greg Saylor, who listed its value at $2,190.

In August 1999, during a comprehensive five-year appraisal of north Kellogg property, Dancer valued it at $7,310. Then, after Little asked him to reconsider, Dancer lowered the appraisal last June to $5,770.

Vergobbi said he had complained to Little that the assessment was too high. Any citizen has a right to do that, he noted.

“It had nothing to do with Vergobbi getting any special privileges,” Vergobbi said.

Commissioner Sherry Krulitz noted that she and county auditor Marcia Wingfield also had protested assessments of their property. However, they went through the formal appeals process.

Appraiser Stoddard sent sexually suggestive pictures and jokes to fellow employees via the county e-mail system.

Dancer provided printouts of the messages. One was dated July 13, one day after the commissioners issued a new policy mentioning the potential use of electronic mail for inappropriate purposes. They warned that “none of the e-mail messages in the county’s system are private.”

Stoddard admits to sending the e-mails. Little, his supervisor, said Tuesday: “Those kinds of things happen. They aren’t in good taste. They won’t be happening again.”

Stoddard’s time cards indicate that he was being paid during hours that he was actually helping coach the high school baseball team. Stoddard said he comes in earlier on days when he coaches late-afternoon games, and puts in a full eight-hour day.

He said he should have shown his hours as 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on those days, instead of the usual 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with a half-hour lunch break.

Stoddard said he listed his hours as the same “for the convenience of the people keeping the books.”

Said Little: “I can assure you that the days he coached high school baseball, that he came in early.”