08/07/2007: "Council Drops Law Suit Against Referendum"

In an unexpected move at the Tuesday County Council meeting, Councilman Alan Lichter made a motion to drop the law suit the council had filed to obtain a judicial determination on the legality of a referendum on stormwater funding. The referendum will now appear on the ballot, and will ask the voters if they approve of the method used to fund stormwater programs.

Lichter surprised the Council at the beginning of the council meeting by saying he had obtained new information on the lawsuit, and that he wished to make a motion on the matter. It is unusual for the council to follow a formal procedure of making a motion, hold discussion, and then vote, but in this case Lichter made the motion with little explanation, and before the Chair could ask for a second, Councilman Rich Peterson made a second, which caused Chairman Bob Myhr to ask for discussion on the motion.

Lichter then explained his concern that, after having read a Supreme Court case sent to him by Prosecutor Gaylord that was presented as a legal basis for the County case, Lichter said it involved four appeals and took ten years. Lichter said that while the County may prevail in the lawsuit against Alex Gavora , that “for me, that our County, dragging one of it's citizens possibly through an endless round of litigation is absolutely repugnant; absolutely repugnant", and then added, "I would much prefer...to stand on solid ground with our citizens in this county, rather than continue down the path with very uncertain legal maneuvers". (see related story below)

Gene Knapp had made the tie-breaking deciding vote when he had joined Myhr, Lichter and Ranker to enter into a law suit against Gavora, but said that he now favored the Lichter motion, and that one of the things that had troubled him from the beginning was that there had been no warning given to the sponsor of the referendum that it might not be an appropriate area for a referendum. He said the County needs to change their rules so that once a an initiative or referendum is filed, the Prosecuting Attorney gives an opinion whether he thinks it is legal or not.

Councilman Myhr said we need to have the question of legality decided by the courts, so did not support the motion. Councilman Ranker agreed with Knapp’s comments, and Councilmen Peterson and Rosenfeld had previously been opposed to the lawsuit, so when Lichter called the question, only Myhr voted against it.