COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners declined to approve a request by Assessor Béla Kovacs to hire attorney D. Colton Boyles to represent his office in two civil lawsuits.

When county commissioners slashed Kovacs’ salary in half last year and he sued to have his pay restored, Boyles represented Kovacs in the successful lawsuit. Kovacs asked commissioners Tuesday to approve him hiring Boyles at a rate of $275 per hour to defend the county in two conflicts over property value assessment appeals.

Commissioners questioned the optics of Kovacs hiring Boyles, as well as Boyles’ experience with property valuations.

“Without that, it looks like you’ve picked someone because they’re the only one that’s either going to engage with you in this process or because you have a prior relationship with them or something like that,” Commissioner Bruce Mattare said.

The county is facing separate requests for judicial review filed by attorneys representing Cabela’s Wholesale, LLC, as well as 13 Idaho limited partnerships and limited liability companies for whom Maryann Prescott is the registered agent.

In both lawsuits, which were filed in July, the petitioners contend that property values fixed by Kootenai County this year are “excessive” and have asked the court to reduce the assessed values and direct the county to refund any taxes which were “erroneously or illegally assessed.”

Because the prosecuting attorney’s office doesn’t have the manpower to represent the assessor’s office in this litigation, Kovacs has sought to hire outside legal counsel.

Kovacs said he reached out to six area attorneys who were recommended to him by Kootenai County Attorney Stan Mortensen, including Boyles. He indicated the other attorneys either didn’t respond to him or had conflicts of interest that prevent them from representing the county in these matters.

“There are about 10 more attorneys we can give you names for that you can pursue in this avenue, but I don’t think it’s best practice to go down this road that you’re going down,” Commissioner Leslie Duncan told Kovacs.

Kovacs said he’s confident that Boyles has sufficient civil litigation experience to handle the case and suggested that the board would overstep by preventing him from hiring the attorney of his choice.

“If you’re telling me the board’s authority trumps the assessor’s constitutional authority, then we have another discussion here,” Kovacs said.

Though they agreed that Kovacs needs to hire outside legal counsel, commissioners declined to vote Tuesday on Kovacs’ specific request for Boyles, instead tabling the matter for future discussion.

Kovacs is expected to present the board with a new resolution on the necessity of hiring outside legal counsel, one which does not name any specific attorney.

Boyles is legal counsel for both North Idaho College and the Community Library Network.

    Bruce E. Mattare
  

    Duncan