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Kootenai County is considering changing the way government operates. A committee has been formed to study government options, but not the desired benefits for the citizens. Why go through this exercise? Turns out to have been a campaign promise…nothing can go wrong with this move, right?
A content platform to support conservative issues in Idaho (candidates, issues, and topics that might otherwise be restricted by the social media platforms or ignored by the local and statewide media outlets.)
cuchini County is considering
changing the way government
operates. A committee has been
formed to study government
options, but not the desired
benefits for the citizens. Why
go through this exercise? turns
out to have been a campaign
promise. Nothing can go wrong
with this move. Right. Welcome
to Idaho speaks a censor free
zone for conservative ideas.
With big tech and mainstream
media fighting to silence
conservatives. I decided to
create a communication channel
devoted to issues important to
Idahoans conservative Idahoans.
I'm not ashamed of my
conservative beliefs and I know
you are not either tune in each
week to hear local and state
issues and hear candidates
firsthand speak about how they
will represent you, the Idaho
voter. Idaho speaks where issues
take shape. So with me in studio
today, I have a very special
guest. I reached out to all
three commissioners for Cooney
County, and invited them to come
on to the program because we got
a really big issue taking place
here in kooten. County. And with
me today, I have Leslie Duncan,
the kidney county commissioner
for district three. Leslie,
thank you so much for coming in
studio today. I appreciate the
invitation. So let's talk a
little bit about First off, what
what gave you this crazy idea to
run for the county commission.
My husband and I traveled
extensively for work. And every
time we came back to town, we
realize that our precious
kootenay County was changing.
And so instead of being ones to
complain about it, we decided to
get involved. And one thing led
to another and I ran for
Commissioner in 2016 loss merely
by 69 votes in the primary. And
then I won fairly handedly in
2018 in the primary.
You know, I served as city
councilor, and it's a thankless
job, like, City Council's one
thing, but I can't imagine being
a county commissioner in a
county with 160 180,000 people.
Yeah, it is difficult. But I
really love the job. I love the
fact that we are guided by state
statute. And I haven't really
found it to be thankless I
literally get one or new people
a week to tell me how grateful
they they are that I am there.
And that I listened to them.
marvelous, marvelous. So
I brought you on today, because
the listeners have been hearing
a lot of news, especially
recently in the newspaper about
the county looking at changing
the form of government or, or
doing a study to consider a
change in the form of
government. I want I want to
read you something that I
prepared here. It's a it looks
like the most recent version of
government change started back
on October 19 of 2020. I think
I've viewed just about all of
the videos that can be viewed on
the meetings where the
resolution 2020 dash 69 were
discussed. But you know, I I
must have missed the one the
part the debate, the discussion
as to the reason why this
exercise is being prescribed. So
why is kidney county going
through the process of reviewing
the form of government that we
have?
Well, let me give you a little
bit of history. In the late 90s.
The legislature was actually the
citizens voted to change the
constitution which allowed us
optional forms of government.
Then the legislature went ahead
and gave us seven optional forms
of government. Back in the 90s
Cooney county did a study. And
it was it was turned down. It
didn't go anywhere. The voters
didn't approve it. And then in
2012, it was brought back up and
it was put on the ballot and it
was voted down by the by the
voters now the one in 2012. It
had the four of the six row
officers as being appointed, not
elected. So right now we have
the treasurer, the assessor, the
clerk, the corner the sheriff
and the prosecuting attorney are
all elected. The ballot measure
in 2012 did not have the
treasurer of the corner, the
assessor and the clerk as
elected but appointed and then
we would still like the sheriff
and the prosecutor. It also I
believe, went to five county
commissioners and so and county
manager and that was the form
The optional form that was put
on the ballot. So why we're
reviewing it now I honestly
can't answer that question. I
know that bill Brooks had
campaigned at one point on seven
part time commissioners. So I,
I'm not going to put words in
his mouth. I actually do not
know why we are having this
conversation right now.
Okay, fair enough. Fair enough.
So I, I want to read this is
from the most recent commission
meeting that you folks had, I
believe that was just a couple
of weeks ago. And this is kind
of the final version of the
bylaws, how the committee is
going to be formed. And My take
is, it's so much on how the
committee is going to be formed
to do the study. I think what's
most important for the listeners
to hear is how would changing
what we have now benefit them
what, what is not happening for
the citizens now, that a
structural or a governmental
change would address so bear
with me, I'm sorry, I'm gonna
I'm going to read a little bit
here, and it's only three
paragraphs, but this is the
kootenay County optional forms
of county government study
commission bylaws. The mission
statement, the purpose of the
optional form of county
government study commission,
shall be to study the existing
form of county government to the
various forms available through
Idaho state statute. Compare the
existing form of county
government determine whether or
not changes to the existing
structure of county government
is warranted. Objectives. The
study commission shall consider
the benefits and drawbacks in
developing a recommendation to
the Board of County
Commissioners of whether to
retain the current form of
county government, or whether to
recommend one or more of the
optional forms of the county
government and those findings
and recommendations be presented
to the Board of County
Commissioners for the Bo B OCC
to adopt by resolution for a
potential ballot measure. The
goal is to provide for greater
efficiency and representation
for the residents of Cooney
County. How this is to be
achieved is to be recommended by
the study commission, which may
involve the current structure
unchanged, an increase to the
current three member county
commissioners or accounting
manager, administrator or
executive with part time county
commissioners as the study
commission deems appropriate by
their majority vote. So before I
dive into my questions Did, did
I get anything wrong in the in
the reading of that statement?
No. However, this form of bylaws
can absolutely be rejected by
the nine member study
commission, because state law
allows them to produce their own
governing documents. So this was
just a suggestion by the board.
So they can choose to operate
under these bylaws or they can
choose to make their own.
Yeah, and that there's a whole
scary thing right there. Now, I
don't know if you the listener
realize this I'm sure you do.
We've got a smart audience on
Idaho speaks. This is kind of
like, Leslie, correct me if I'm
wrong. This is kind of like a
constitutional convention.
Sorta, this is this is
evaluating the rules, as we're
currently operating, and
determine if there's a better
way to do it.
Yes. So partially to that
question, putting it to the
voters, you know, is always a
good idea. As far as if change
is warranted. They need to be
involved, of course, but my
concern is with outside money
coming in which it has been
including county elections, to
sway the vote to a certain way,
then I'm afraid that the
electorate may be fooled into
voting for something that they
don't you know, that they got
missing for missing informed on?
Like, I look at it like Medicaid
expansion. So a lot of people
voted for it. Then when they
found out Well, what's the
funding source? Well, you know,
all these different questions
came out after they passed it. I
know, a whole group of people
who voted for it are very
disappointed.
Well, and I'm going to, I'm
going to steal your Medicaid
example. But rather than looking
at the cost side, I'm going to
look at the health side. So if I
go to the doctor, and I say,
Doctor, I got this cough. I got,
you know, what should I do? And
he just hands me some pills
without ever looking at me. I
think that's prescription
without diagnosis. And that's
malpractice. Right? Yeah. So
what is the diagnosis? Why? Why
make this and I know you didn't,
you've actually voted no, every
step of the way to proceed with
this. But you've been in the
meetings. You've heard bill and
Chris, talk about this. You've
heard people come before the
commission to talk about this.
Give our listeners kind of a
clue as to what is the symptoms
that are causing the need to do
a study, and maybe throw the
baby out with the bathwater.
So my perspective is it is a job
that has a lot of moving parts,
there is a lot to do, it's 40 to
60 hours a week, depending on
the topics that we're studying,
and depending on what is going
on in the community. So it is a
pretty heavy job. And you have
to have a little bit of
expertise in many, many
subjects, we handle 17
departments, and six elected
official groups. So that's kind
of a lot to know a lot about.
It's the budgets over $100
million. So it's, it's kind of a
difficult job. Now, there's
things that we can do, we've
hired staff, there's different
things that I would like to
address to kind of maybe
streamline and help us better
handle our day to day
responsibilities. I think
there's some things that can be
delegated to other positions, I
guess, is what you would say.
For me, I want this form of
government, because we should be
deliberative government is meant
to be deliberative should we
should be having these
conversations with other elected
officials, it shouldn't just be
the only elected officials being
five commissioners or seven
commissioners. And I think that
sometimes commissioners don't
like the pushback that they get
from other elected officials.
And the commissioners have
control of the budget, but they
don't have control of the
operations of the other
commissioners. And frankly, I
don't want to tell the sheriff
what to do. I don't want to tell
the prosecutor what to do, I
definitely don't want to tell
the assessor or the clerk, the
treasurer, the corner what they
should do, I want the people to
be able to elect them. Now,
efficiency is lost in this form
of government. However, I would
argue that the most efficient
form of government is tyranny.
So why not have a dictator that,
you know, that's very efficient,
whatever he or she says goes,
and there's no representation
from the people who are we
wouldn't exist without people.
So I think sometimes, when
government runs, the people in
government don't really take
that into account.
And that's kind of what this
feels like this feels like,
especially with the pandemic, we
just, were wrapping up, I hope
we're wrapping up a very
tumultuous time where decisions
were made right or wrong, I'm
just this episode isn't
discussing whether those
decisions to mask up shut down,
or right or wrong. That's
completely irrelevant. We're
past that. But it feels like
statements that were made in the
newspaper that were made to
other groups. And I know you
didn't make them. And I don't
want to put their words on your
shoulders. But it feels like
there's some folks on the
commission that just feel like
they didn't have enough power
during this, that they wanted to
go a certain way. And the other
elected officials in line said
no, and I'll point to one very
specific the sheriff, the
sheriff newly elected came on,
published a letter, so I'm not
gonna enforce the mask mandate,
and then published another one
saying, I'm not going to
confiscate guns. Now, so let me
ask the question here. What's
gun confiscation ever an issue
the county commission was even
discussing?
So actually, it was because I
had a bunch of constituents
asked me to pass a second
amendment sanctuary ordinance,
like had been done across the
country. So it wasn't anything
necessarily new. And it wasn't
anything that was my idea to
bring forward. I just had
literally 100 emails asking me
to do this. So I thought, well,
you know, it's, it sounds like
it would be beneficial to our
community, to give them that
peace of mind. Now, the sheriff
has a lot to do with that. And
he didn't end up supporting us
passing that. So. Yeah, I mean,
that's I'm not sure if he put
that not participating in the
confiscation and writing, but he
did say that in a public
meeting.
The idea here, though, is now
the sheriff is duly elected by
the voters. He's one of us,
working for us, representing us.
And if we don't like what he's
doing, we vote him out, put
somebody else in place. Whereas
if the sheriff was now an
employee of the county, and
again, that's just one of seven
I realized that but at the
sheriff was just one employee.
We'd have to come to the county
commission and complain, the
county commission would have to
by majority agree and then go to
the county manager and say
you're going to have to change
the sheriff. But Sheriff is
operational and works for the
county manager. And county
manager can basically tell the
commission go pound sand, I'm
not going to tell the sheriff to
do anything different, because
it's federal law. And he's
backed up by the back that
federal law has something to say
in here. So the voters in one
scenario are completely removed.
And in the other scenario, it
seems like they're in complete
control. Do I got this wrong?
No, it's it's pretty close to
that, of course, the majority of
the commissioners could fire
that county manager, right. And
then, you know, get their will
done, by that way,
assuming the majority could be
achieved.
Right. Right. And I guess my
concern with any type of
appointment is everybody has
their constitutional role. So my
concern is as Board of
Equalization, which the
commissioner sit in twice a year
as that board, and now if the
assessor is appointed or hired,
and that assessor comes against
the county commission, I mean,
right now we we go to court. And
so is that option still
available? Or is the assessor
not going to come against us and
do the right thing, because now,
he or she's in fear for losing
their job.
So it seems to me like one of
the one of the elected
commissioners ran on this idea
of changing the form of
government and why he wants to
change the form of government.
We don't know that yet. I've
reached out to bill. He hasn't
responded, I don't know if we'll
get an answer why we heard him
give sort of an answer at the
kootenay County Republican
women's federated meeting on
April 1, I would reference folks
take a look at YouTube, it
wasn't a nice answer. But from
the standpoint of what he is
trying to achieve, we have no
measurement as to what the
desired outcome is, we do not
know what he's got in mind for
improving. And this is why I
kind of compare it to a
constitutional convention. If we
open up a constitutional
convention, that really is a
study of all things having to do
with the US Constitution. And
that said, convention, the
entire constitution can be
rewritten, can be thrown out,
can be just modified, tweaked.
And we've done a few
constitutional conventions, and
they weren't very pretty. I
really viewed that this is
really throwing the baby away
with the bathwater. Rather,
let's go to the citizens and
say, here's an area of
efficiency, where the county
struggles and this is why I feel
the county is struggling with
this. Now let's come up with a
way to resolve that problem.
It'd be like going to a I don't
know. Pick a business, the
resort and saying to Mr. haggin,
Don, you know, your restaurant
there, you're just not serving,
you know, good enough desserts.
So what we need to tear out both
restaurants. In fact, let's just
tear down the whole building.
Let's just rebuild it. Let's put
in three new restaurants, one of
which that really has to be a
desert only place. I know this
sounds kind of crazy. But is
that not what the county is
doing right now with this
proposal to do a study on the
new form of government?
I guess. My view is I've looked
at the seven forms, and I don't
see one that is going to benefit
the citizens of Cooney County.
So no Cooney county residents
have come to me and asked for
this new form to even look at
the new forms. And I think when
people fully understand what
these new forms mean, even if
you kept all the row officers
elected and went to five
commissioners, now you have the
issue of serial meetings. And
that's public business being
done behind closed doors.
Yeah, this has been one of
Bill's complaints that he's he's
aired a couple of times that he
can't meet with anybody without
going into public meetings laws.
And we're familiar with public
meetings laws. But isn't that a
good thing?
I think so. I don't see what the
problem is with me bringing my
ideas to Chris or bill in a
public forum. I just I don't
understand that part of it. So
once again, this really has not
been an issue that's been
brought to us.
So let me ask that question in a
different way. Hat since you've
been on the county commission,
have There have been ideas that
have not come to the front to be
discussed. Because of the
challenge of going to the public
meetings announcement and
process.
I can only answer from me and
no, if I have something that I
feel is necessary beneficial,
then yeah, I bring it forward, I
put it on an agenda, and we talk
about it. And that just happened
today. I didn't like one word of
this ordinance that we were
asked to pass. And so I brought
it to the meeting and said, Hey,
I don't like this word, I want
to change this word. And so we
talked about it, and they
agreed, and so now it's going to
go forth on a business meeting
in the future to be voted on,
and approved. I don't really
feel like that's an issue. But I
also have a whole different
perspective. I work for the
taxpayers directly, I'm their
direct representative to make
sure that nothing in government
infringes on their rights.
Nothing in government prevents
them from doing what they want
to do. That's already, you know,
not legal. And that does not
hurt their neighbors rights. So
I just look at it differently,
that I'm not here for me to do a
certain agenda. I'm not here to
accomplish certain goals or
anything. I'm just here to be a
representative. And I don't
know, I mean, maybe that's just
a unique position. I do want to
leave the county better than
when I found it. I do see some
definitely some definite needs
that we have to address soon in
the future for the long term
health of the county. I guess
that's just where I go with it.
So I'm not opposed to talking
about things. But I have
reviewed those seven forms, and
I don't see how any one of them
would be more beneficial to the
taxpayers in the county. Yeah, I
mean, the three commission form
that we have right now, it's not
great. But it's a lot better
than what we could have if we
changed forms.
Right. Okay, so wrapping up,
where where are we as of right
now, today?
So today, we have picked an ad
hoc committee, so three members
to then interview people to be
recommended to the board for
appointment to the nine member
study commission. So the first
meeting is to Well, I can't
guess I can't say tomorrow,
April 13, at 530 at the
kootenay. County building. So
that's where the ad hoc
committee will meet and decide
how they want to go through the
process of making these
recommendations.
And how often does a committee
plan on meeting you think
that's all this is their first
meeting. They get to pick all of
that they decide how often they
meet where they meet, and how
they want to go through the
process
and their reporting process.
They follow standard public
meetings laws, they do be public
record.
Yep. All of it will be public
record. Yes, I believe all of it
will be on YouTube as well.
Perfect. Any final thoughts you
wish to share with the
listeners?
I just want to encourage
everybody to be involved in how
many ever ways that they feel
that invokes their passion,
along with service. We're not to
a point where people can just
sit back and relax anymore and
believe that the elected
officials have their best
interest at heart, they have to
be involved. They have to be
coming to meetings that have to
understand the budget process.
They just really need to be
engaged at this point because if
you value the quality of life
and Cooney County, then
everything that happens in the
next few years is going to
predict whether we maintain it,
whether we improve it or whether
it degrades.
Boy talk about keeping Idaho
Idaho and not letting it
California K. Well Leslie, thank
you so much for coming on the
program today. very welcome.
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