So much happened at the special meeting last night that I’m going to give you a *quick* recap. To hear a bit more about it I urge you to check out my TikTok videos for the fun recap.
OK so after writing the below recap I realized that this meeting was too much like a good soap opera and I couldn’t leave anything out. Sorry for the long recap. If you’re a visual person you may just want to watch the videos and then skim below. 😊
Just know that there will be a meeting next week although looks like the room is not available on Wednesday. It'll probably be Monday or Tuesday. Be ready.
Dave Botting called the meeting to order and immediately went out of agenda order and announced that Kristen Wing “has tendered her resignation” and Joan Genter will take her place.
If Botting has thrown his own precious agenda out of the window in the first 2 minutes of the meeting, one knows it’s going to get crazy.
After the pledge Brian Cleary comments that they should go back to reconsidering the recommendation vote as now Joan Genter is in the spot and the group does not know how she votes. She is not a proxy of Kristen Wing so she may have a different opinion.
Botting is having none of that talk. Says that Kristen was a resident of Kootenai County until the end of March and because they voted for the report in January Kristen’s vote stands and they WILL NOT reconsider.
Brian Cleary moves to reconsider the recommendation of the report.
Nanci Plouffe pipes up from the closet stating that they can’t make that motion because it’s not listed on the agenda.
Kurt Anderson plays mediator and motions to get the rest of the agenda tabled until next week so that the reconsideration can be added to the agenda. He agrees with Cleary that because Joan is a new voter they should go back and vote on the final report.
Motion fails, 5-4. Joan votes against the motion.
Botting argues again that Kristen’s vote was in January and her vote stands. Says the signature page will be “modified.” Why/how it will be modified was not discussed.
Cleary calls out the lack of transparency by Chair Botting and calls him a terrible chair. “This is not how Kootenai County should be represented.”
Few points that were made by Brian Cleary:
Open meeting laws were violated even if Botting tries to tell everyone they weren’t.
How does one know for sure that Kristen was a resident until the end of March? She sold her house on 12/28/21, they shut down their business before then, and her husband set up residency in South Dakota earlier too.
The group cannot trust anything Botting says; after his “misdirection” of the prosecutor’s opinion at Monday’s meeting, which he later said was a verbal opinion “and that’s good enough”…which later he admitted that conversation happened but the attorney did not want to have his thoughts on record.
Botting’s lack of transparency throughout this entire process with the latest being Kristen Wing’s mysterious residency and the super secret “verbal opinion” from a prosecuting attorney that does not want to go on record.
As the chair, Botting is the one that should be requesting the opinions of legal counsel but he didn’t in this last case and only said random things about a “verbal opinion” without transparency
At this last point Botting tries to argue that anyone can be asking for the legal opinions, he isn’t the go-to for them. He tried to use this excuse as a reason why he didn’t formally email the legal counsel about Kristen’s residency and just spoke with a legal person.
In the Final bylaws, that Botting allowed to be approved, it states the duties of the chair:
With all these points Brian Cleary calls for Dave Botting to step down as chair.
Botting states that Cleary might as well stop wasting his breath, I will not be stepping down.
Tamara makes a motion to remove Botting as chair.
Nancy Plouffe runs out of the closet again stating they can’t do that because it’s not on the agenda as an action item.
Brian Cleary, the attorney, argues with her. Ummm nope, this is an emergency motion, doesn’t need to be on the agenda.
Nanci Plouffe, as a non-participant and not an attorney, says that she does not see an emergent harm so therefore it is not an emergency motion.
That. Lit. Cleary. Up.
Cleary starts saying he has been silent too long. It’s his fault for taking everything in and allowing this clown show to continue as long as it has. Even called out Mumbles (Phil Ward) for degrading study commission members in the CDA Press with his Letters to the Editor.
A motion is again made to table the rest of the agenda next week to add all these other issues. This time the motion passes, 5-4, with Joan voting in favor of the motion.
Dave Levine, study commission secretary, asks if they could have a discussion about what items to put on next week’s agenda so it’s clear. Botting says no. Nanci Plouffe is running out of the closet again to defend him. Practically EVERYONE on that commission argues back at Botting that this is a DISCUSSION and there’s NO action, it’s JUST a discussion.
Items that were finally discussed to be on the agenda:
Reconsideration of recommendation
Status of the Chair
Depending on the status of the first 2 items then they can discuss the rest of the agenda that was not discussed this meeting.
Botting is still fighting against the reconsideration of recommendation. “It has already been voted on in January, IT IS FINAL!”
Brian Cleary claps back: “If 5 members vote to reconsider, then we’ll reconsider.”
No response from Botting.
Meeting adjourned 30 minutes after it began.