COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO – Kootenai County Assessor Béla Kovacs admits to privately recording county employees and elected officials without their knowledge while acting in his capacity as assessor. Furthermore, he admits to deleting several recordings due to poor audio quality. Commissioners Leslie Duncan, Bruce Mattare, and Bill Brooks are concerned that Kovacs’ actions to secretly record conversations heightens the county’s liability, and they also raised concerns that deleting some recordings constitutes the destruction of public records.
The matter was brought to the attention of elected county officials, county employees, and the public by Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson at a county meeting on Thursday, December 28, 2023.
“Béla Kovacs has been recording county employee conversations while simultaneously denying the existence of these recordings,” stated Matheson. “Béla has disclosed and forwarded to me fifteen conversations … county employees, attorneys, and elected officials have been recorded, including an executive session of the county commissioners.”
It remains unclear how many conversations were recorded by Kovacs. Chair Duncan wants to know how many recordings exist, who Kovacs has released recordings to, and who has requested the recordings. Duncan warned Kovacs about the legal ramifications of releasing executive sessions, including criminal consequences. “Do not release any executive sessions without going through Stan’s office,” Duncan stated when cautioning Kovacs about recordings related to executive sessions.
Stanley Mortensen, the county’s prosecuting attorney, says the process of reviewing the recordings to fulfill public record requests will be extensive and time consuming. Additionally, Mortensen said, “Public records should be stored, kept, and saved on property that is owned or leased by the county. All electronic recordings related to county business should be saved and stored only on county hardware and software.” He pointed out the difficulties of accurately fulfilling public records requests without the information being stored in the county’s electronic storage system.
Matheson wants the county to require Kovacs to come into compliance with county policy by transferring the recordings, which are currently held on private devices and software, into the county systems. Kovacs maintains the position that the recordings fall under personal notes, which are not subject to public record requests.
“This is going to be a mess,” stated Matheson in regards to the process of transferring, storing, reviewing, and releasing the recordings.
Since Idaho is a single party record state, Kovacs was not legally obligated to inform others that he was recording his conversations with them. However, several individuals view his conduct as immoral and unethical. A current county employee in the treasurer’s office, a former county employee from the assessor’s office, Mattare and Duncan spoke directly to their dismay of Kovacs’ conduct.
When Duncan directly asked Kovacs if he plans on continuing to record his employees, he replied, “If I record, I will speak about it beforehand.”
The entire video recording of this meeting can be reviewed via the county’s YouTube channel.
