Business meeting interrupted by ‘Zoom bomber’
By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff
The Bonner County board of commissioners voted July 22 to move forward with tentative plans to change the layout of the Bonner County Administration building to make it more accessible for the public. Later, during public comment, attendees discussed a July 18 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act lawsuit that names the county and members of a former BOCC board, among more than 50 other defendants.
Staff Engineer Spencer Ferguson has been working with the commissioners, department heads and members of the public since February to draft two proposals for renovations to the county’s primary building. The preliminary ideas would move the Treasurer’s Office to the first floor and shift the locations of Bonner County Road and Bridge and GIS to make the offices more accessible.
“I think it was discussed that it was fairly necessary to move the Treasurer’s Office down to the first floor, the main reason being that it’s a high-traffic office and the elevator has issues,” said Commissioner Ron Korn, going on to ask if the changes could be accomplished by county staff to save money.
“I don’t have the staffing to do that,” said Director of Facilities Teddi Lupton. “If we could put the county on hold and make sure nothing breaks and nothing else happens, sure, maybe. But it’d take quite a bit of time with just one staff [member] and me.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the most minimal alterations possible to move the Treasurer’s Office, though the exact layout, timeline and budget have yet to be decided. The vote does not commit any funds to the project, but gives Ferguson direction to look for an architecture firm, which will then create a plan for the renovations.
“I’ll have to go draft an RFQ — request for qualifications — to select an architect. I’ll bring that before you guys for approval … Once we go through the contract review and signing and bringing this architect on, there’ll be some fees for their time to draft up concepts and some more finer price estimates,” said Ferguson.
‘Zoom bomb’
In the middle of Ferguson’s presentation on July 22, an unknown online attendee “Zoom bombed” the meeting by playing a looped recording of hate speech interspersed with screaming. Deputy Clerk Alisa Schoeffel was able to eject the participant via Zoom, and the meeting resumed without issue.
A similar incident occurred during a Sandpoint City Council meeting on May 15, 2024. In response to the intrusion, the council, under the leadership of Mayor Jeremy Grimm, discontinued public comment via Zoom.
Zoom has been a hotly contested issue during BOCC meetings for years. Initially introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, former-Commissioners Steve Bradshaw and Luke Omodt voted to end Zoom participation in 2023. Commissioner and current Chair Asia Williams fought to reinstate its use, and a month later, Williams and Omodt voted to resume livestreaming meetings via Zoom.
In 2024, Omodt and Bradshaw voted to adopt a set of standing rules for the meetings, one of which stipulated that everyone seeking to give public comment would have to sign up before the start of the meeting. Zoom participants had to use Gmail to access the online sign-in form, and give their name, county of residence and the topic on which they intended to comment. Immediately after the current board took over, Williams and Commissioner Brian Domke voted to strike the standing rules, eliminating the form for Zoom attendees.
When asked if the board would change any policies in response to the Zoom incident, Williams told the Reader:
“The board of commissioners is committed to ensuring that our residents have access to our public meetings. Electronic meeting attendance has been an invaluable resource to our community. We will continue to ensure that our county business is conducted allowing for meaningful participation by the public.”
RICO lawsuit
During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, attendees announced and commented on the recent RICO lawsuit. Neither elected officials nor county staff spoke to the issue.
The lawsuit stems from issues with the Mountain Homestead development, located north of Ponderay, which was created using the minor land divisionn process. The current BOCC instituted a moratorium on MLDs in April, under the advice of Deputy Prosecutor Bill Wilson and Planning Director Jake Gabell, to give the Planning Department time to fix loopholes in the county code outlining MLDs.
According to Gabell, the current code allowed developers to create de facto subdivisions without proper infrastructure, including a lack of fire mitigation and stormwater management requirements, as well as regulations on road width, surfacing or accessibility measures for first responders, among other issues.
The lawsuit, brought by the homeowners, alleges “negligent” and “fraudulent” behavior on the part of more than 50 individuals and entities, including former-Commissioners Bradshaw, Dan McDonald and Jeff Connolly, as well as Bonner County, Panhandle Health District and the real estate agencies, contractors, title agencies and developers involved in the sale, development or approval of the housing community.
Among the issues listed in the complaint as stemming from the development, the homeowners contend that problems with the septic system and drainfield have led to the contamination of their drinking water with “coliform bacteria, E. Coli, arsenic, nitrates and other harmful materials,” which have made residents sick.
The plaintiffs have demanded a trial by jury and requested that, should the jury rule in their favor, the defendants award an unspecified amount of damages, pay to connect the homes to sewer and water, and fix issues on the properties allegedly related to “negligence” and “fraudulent” actions, among other restitution.
The complaint alleges that “defendants conspired to push the nonconforming MLDs through, install and approve the faulty and deficient septic system, negligently develop the lots and dupe Plaintiffs … into buying the properties without disclosing any of the numerous defects that plague the development.”
The case will be heard by Judge Amanda Brailsford of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho at an undetermined date.
