Mineral County commissioners last week made a deputy county attorney responsible for resolving a $5,000 bill for surveying work they say he ordered without authorization.  

The vote, made April 2, came a week after the bill was presented to the Board of Commissioners. At the time, commissioners criticized Deputy County Attorney Wally Congdon for requesting land survey work without approval from them or the county attorney.  

Commissioner Shawn Smalley said at the April 2 meeting Congdon acted outside his budgetary authority. The county department head or supervisor is responsible for managing their department’s allotted funds out of the county budget, according to the Mineral County Employee Policy.  

“I would not approve us, as the county, paying for this,” Smalley said. “If you ordered it, and you ordered it out of your own authority, it’s your bill.” 

Congdon requested land surveying services while placing a lien on a commercial property in St. Regis at Commissioner Duane Simons’ direction. In Montana, a lien is an encumbrance against a property for debt security. On Jan. 29, Congdon received a $5,010 invoice from Montana Northwest Company, a land surveying firm in Missoula. 

Congdon said the land survey was necessary to convert the area to real property. There were questions about floodplain boundaries, he said, after the Federal Emergency Management Agency released a new map in April 2024.  

“I didn’t mean to spend money that wasn’t supposed to be spent,” Congdon said. “I was just implementing what I thought we should implement, when I was told to convert it to real estate.” 

Simons said that he never asked for the land survey.  

Marlys Schwaderer, owner of the property where the survey work was done, and her real estate agent, Lauren Atkin, also said they weren’t made aware of the survey work. Atkin added that the survey wasn’t needed, since the details of the property have already been disclosed after she pulled the title, she said.  

“I had all that information,” Atkin said. “There was absolutely no reason for a survey.” 

Commissioners ordered Congdon to resolve the bill. He is expected to report back to them on April 9.  

Report for America reporter Hannah Shields can be reached at (406) 758-4439 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.