Prosecutor shifting open meeting issues

Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman will no longer investigate open meeting law complaints against the Lewiston City Council, citing a conflict of interest because of the city’s ongoing contract with the county to prosecute misdemeanor crimes.

In a news release, Coleman said a review of the issue by outside legal counsel and other advisers determined that the contractual relationship represented a direct conflict for further county prosecution of alleged open meeting violations.

“With the prosecutor’s office being under contract this way, all open meeting cases will be sent to a neighboring county prosecutor’s office that agreed to review the complaints going forward,” Coleman said in the news release.

He didn’t specify which prosecutor’s office will be handling the complaints, but a response from Coleman’s office to one complainant that was shared on Facebook said Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson Jr. will review them.

The city, county and Coleman’s office standardized prosecution of the city’s misdemeanor- and infraction-level cases in 2016 through the contract with the prosecutor’s office. The cases were previously handled by the city attorney’s office.

“Unfortunately, the circumstances of our contract prevents us from continuing our review of these open meeting allegations without jeopardizing the contract or presenting issues for enforcement of open meeting laws with the city,” Coleman said. “Open meeting violations are a concern for ethical government. With that being said, we need to ensure this is done correctly. We owe it to our citizens to be transparent and ethical in how we handle government business.”

The contract has helped standardize prosecutions in Nez Perce County and provide consistent victim services, he added. And the prosecutor’s office is able to pursue the cases at a lower cost than the city and create a more efficient judicial process.

Since the contract began, the prosecutor’s office has handled nearly 7,000 city misdemeanor and infraction cases, including domestic violence incidents, DUIs and petit thefts. He said that track record makes the contract too valuable to threaten over a conflict of interest.

The city council has been hit with repeated complaints this year after it largely transitioned to virtual meetings in an effort to protect the public from the spread of the coronavirus. Those steps included limiting the number of people allowed in the second-floor meeting room at the Lewiston City Library and following other public health guidelines.

There have been 21 open meeting complaints filed this year, Coleman said. When he did find that some violated the letter of Idaho’s open meeting statutes, he deemed those violations as “unintentional” because the city council committed them in the course of trying to protect public health. Those three violations were “cured” when the city council reconsidered the matters it voted on at the meetings in question, while two were determined to not be violations.

Fifteen of the remaining complaints originated from the Nov. 19 city council meeting where councilors voted to institute a mask mandate. Those will be handled by Thompson’s office.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or at (208) 310-1901, ext. 2266.