SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners failed to pass a motion to disband the Bonner County Fair Board audit committee last week.

During their Oct. 24 meeting, commissioners agreed there was a need for an audit and approved a motion to get that process started. During that time, the board created a committee to assist with the search for an audit firm. However, there have been some issues with the committee, said Commissioner Asia Williams, who requested to disband it.

“Legal has provided some responses via email that what they’re requesting is not reasonable and appropriate,” she said. “One of the things is, I am not on the audit committee, but it was the restriction of communication which means I could not communicate on it.”

Additionally, Williams said the way the committee was acting violated the agreement the commissioners had saying that she would search for available audit firms. Because of this, legal counsel suggested that the commissioners disband the committee altogether.

However, Commissioner Luke Omodt said the committee’s purpose is  to fulfill the legal process of procuring an audit firm. Omodt reminded fellow commissioners that doing the audit will cost the county roughly $50,000.

Williams countered that no legal counselors were aware the committee was being established, nor did they know they would be expected to sit in on and give counsel during its meetings. 

Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale also chimed in to the conversation, saying he would be in agreement if the board chose to disband the committee.

“With the audit committee, there has actually been actual tremendous slander thrown against our external auditor by an elected official and by a Bonner County employee,” he said. “That is clear.”

When he voiced his support for the committee, Rosedale said his intention was to have the committee field questions and comments from department heads and public officials. That way, there would be a filtered line of questions and comments going from the public to the external auditor. His reasoning for disbanding the committee, he said, was that he doesn’t want people in the county libeling the external auditor, causing yet another one to quit.

Rosedale also said the decision of which audit firm to hire should be the decision of the entire board, not just one board member.

To this, Williams said she has never tried to choose an audit firm on her own. Due to the extreme strife in the county, Williams said she knew it would be difficult to find a firm even willing to work with the county, and she was trying to identify those that would agree to do so.

“What the motion was, it wasn’t that Asia chooses,” she said. “What is was, was that I was going to gather information and, specifically stated, present it to the community and the board. I am just trying to get people who are willing to look at what we have to offer.”

Williams said she doesn’t care if Rosedale wants to take over identifying firms, or if anyone else wants to do it; she merely wants the audit to move forward so the county can be in compliance.

“So am I to understand you’ve been having ex parte communication with auditing firms without speaking to the entire board of county commissioners?” Omodt asked.

Williams asked Omodt if he had forgotten the vote the board took Oct. 24 allowing Williams to identify firms willing to work with the county. Neither Omodt or Bradshaw said they recalled voting for this, and Omodt said he would never vote yes on such a matter. The only motion he remembered voting yes to, he said, was the agreement that an audit needed to take place.

“At no time did this commissioner delegate to any other commissioner, nor will I, my duty to the taxpayers in regards to that,” he said.

However, the commissioners did in fact approve Williams’s plan to identify willing audit firms during the Oct. 24 meeting, along with the agreement that an audit was needed for the fair board. The minutes from that meeting also state that Rosedale said he fully supported moving forward with the audit.

However, during the Nov. 14 meeting, Rosedale said that all these allegations against him, his comptroller and external auditor are based on false accusations and said Williams knows that they are false, yet has remained silent the entire time the attacks have been taking place.

“Why would I want someone who has ignored that and not come to the public to defend my office?” he asked. “You have been staying silent this entire time letting the slander go on about our external audit, our internal audit, my entire office. You remain silent. Why?”

Williams said her efforts to figure out what happened at the fairgrounds where money went missing and someone lost their life doesn’t mean that she’s pointing fingers at anybody or alleging that the clerk or commissioners did anything wrong; she simply wants to get to the bottom of what happened. The audit, she said, should answer a lot of the questions that county staff and residents have about the whole situation.

The District 2 commissioner reiterated she doesn’t mind if someone else wants to contact the audit firms, she just wants to get it done so the audit process can move forward.

“I don’t care who contacts these people, and I said that in the email,” she said.

Williams again restated her motion to disband the audit committee, but it was not met with a second and died on the floor.