Judge rules on elected office eligibility

The tiny town of Huetter has been stalled for months, unable to complete some routine business because it lacked an official quorum of city officials as a dispute raged over whether the 20-something mayor and council member elected in November were eligible to hold office.

Meetings were canceled because not enough council members were present. Others disintegrated as the warring factions argued over who was in charge.

A 10-page ruling issued Tuesday may finally bring the issue to resolution. In it District Court Judge Lansing Haynes ruled that elected Mayor Bradley Keene and council member Jeni Brown lost their eligibility to hold office and thus their elected positions in January when they failed to answer challenges to their voter registrations.

“The system doesn’t work. Some people stepped in and wanted to make some changes, and the previous government didn’t want that and found some loopholes,” said Keene.

Lansing wrote in his opinion that the fact that the pair’s registrations were reinstated after a February hearing in front of Kootenai County Clerk Dan English was immaterial because their positions had already been vacated.

“It restored their status as registered voters, but it couldn’t restore their status as elected officials,” said Huetter City Attorney Art Macomber.

The three remaining City Council members will now appoint replacements.

The lawsuit was filed by the city in an attempt to settle the matter. The fight has been bitter from beginning to end.

Keene, Brown and fellow 20-something candidate Luke Gibler in November ousted longstanding Huetter Mayor Jackie Meeks and her councilman husband Dave Meeks. Just 32 people voted in that election.

Jackie Meeks was later appointed at a special December meeting to fill a vacated City Council position.

The young slate’s victory prompted challenges to their registrations as well as registrations of nine others who participated in the election. County Clerk English said he’s never seen such a contentious election process.

“For a city of only about 100, we’ve had more complaints about people’s voter registration status than all the other districts combined,” he said.

When Brown and Keene failed to respond to the challenges within the required timeframe, they were stricken from the polls. They were later re-registered, but according to Haynes the damage was done.

They had already lost their offices and could not regain them unless appointed by the remaining council members.

Haynes wrote “this court hereby declares that a vacancy exists in each office … Said vacancies are to be filled by the now existing mayor and council of city of Huetter.”

Who will be appointed remains to be seen, but insiders speculate that it’s unlikely it will be Brown and Keene.

Meeks has openly criticized the pair, and she has an ally among the other two council members, Councilwoman Kim Rodway.

Meeks did not respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

Macomber said he hopes Haynes’ ruling will stand. “From my point of view it looks pretty solid. I think it’s well-grounded in the law.”

Keene, however, vowed that he would continue to pursue office in Huetter, whether that means appealing the ruling or running for mayor again.

“I won the first time fair and square and I most likely would again,” he said.