COEUR d'ALENE - Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said Friday conflict of interest violations for Coeur d'Alene city officials regarding the McEuen Field project do not exist.

The attorney sent an opinion letter stating that to Kootenai County Prosecutor Barry McHugh, Marshall said.

"My opinion is there are no criminal violations of the conflicts of interest statutes under Idaho law," he told The Press.

The Bonner County Prosecutors reviewed a complaint from Coeur d'Alene Rep. Kathy Sims that said ethics in government laws were breached as Coeur d'Alene city officials worked on the conceptual plan for the downtown park because some officials have business and property ties near the park.

Sims forwarded the complaint to the Idaho Attorney General's Office. The office said that violations didn't exist according to Idaho statute, but it couldn't investigate the matter.

Marshall's opinion said the officials wouldn't benefit directly from a park project.

McHugh's wife has had contracts with the city of Coeur d'Alene for public art pieces over the last couple of years. McHugh said he didn't feel there was a conflict of interest for him to look into the Coeur d'Alene matter because of those contracts, but asked Bonner County to handle it at Sims' request.

Sims said Friday afternoon she hadn't talked about the legal opinion with either of the attorneys and couldn't comment on where the issue would go from here.