Special prosecutor files civil complaint against Teton County commissioners
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DRIGGS — A court-appointed Special Prosecutor for the State of Idaho has filed a civil complaint against the Teton County Board of County Commissioners and two advisory committees: the Wildlife Advisory Committee and the Waterways Recreation Advisory Committee.
The complaint alleges more than 40 violations of the Idaho Open Meeting Law, according to a news release from Special Prosecutor Mark Taylor’s office. These violations include approximately 10 infractions that occurred after the Teton County Board of County Commissioners admitted to non-compliance with the law in 2022 and 2023.
Idaho’s Open Meeting Law mandates that government entities conduct business openly and transparently to ensure the public has access to the decision-making process.
This civil action follows a six-month investigation into the practices of the Teton County Board of County Commissioners and its advisory committees, focusing on their adherence to Idaho’s Open Meeting Law.
The Board and its committees allegedly failed to meet the transparency and accountability standards mandated by state law. According to the news release, the violations by the Board of County Commissioners represent “fundamental breaches that diminish public trust.”
“The open meeting law violations by the Teton County Board of County Commissioners and its advisory committees represent a systemic failure to take the Open Meeting Law’s requirements seriously and demonstrate a culture of indifference towards needed reforms,” Taylor said in the release.
The complaint cites instances of holding meetings without proper notice, failing to publish agendas and conducting deliberations outside of public view.
The civil complaint seeks monetary penalties against the individuals who participated in each unlawful meeting and legal remedies for these breaches of the Open Meeting Law.
Civil penalties can be assessed against “any member of the governing body” who violates the Open Meeting Law.
According to court documents, each member of the Board and the committees named is also a defendant individually.
In February, the Teton County Board of County Commissioners admitted to several open meeting law violations.
At the time, they issued a notice stating that the public was not properly notified of meetings with the Teton County Wildlife and Teton County Waterway and Recreation advisory committees.
The commissioners maintain that the issue was “the result of simple human error…, not secret dealings or deliberate deceptions.”
They have followed all recommendations from the Teton County “Proscecutor, Bailey Smith, to rectify the oversight, they said.
However, in a news release responding to Taylor’s action, the county commissioners called the complaint a “political attack.”
“The timing of Mark Taylor’s sensationalized press release and civil charges, one week before a general election, is clearly and blatantly politically motivated,” the commissioners asserted in the release.
Cindy Riegel, Chair of the Board Of County Commissioners, told EastIdahoNews.com that Teton County and its staff are taking the accusations seriously.
“We’re doing all the normal things you would do when you’re being sued,” she said in a phone interview.
Riegel is personally contemplating filing a complaint with the Idaho Bar Association against Taylor.
“It was purely political,” she told EastIdahoNews.com. “It’s been used in political ads against me.”
