SANDPOINT, IDAHO – Bonner County Commissioner Chairman Luke Omodt appeared to lose control of the January 9, 2024, business meeting when he called for a 90-minute recess. The specific return time was set to 11:00 a.m., which put the board into a scheduled executive session, skipping past five discussion items, commissioner reports, and public comment.
After approving the routine business of the consent agenda and claims batches, Commissioner Asia Williams began presenting her eight agenda items for discussion. Williams’ topics focused on increasing public participation and transparency. Her initial motions did not receive a second and therefore died without discussion.
Williams then motioned for a forensic audit of the fair board and allowing “the experts in the field selecting the starting date.” Williams said this was based on requests from the public. The deliberations became heated as Commissioner Steven Bradshaw moved to postpone the motion for a forensic audit of the fair board indefinitely, which would effectively kill the motion before further debate, causing many in attendance to verbally object.
Omodt gave a warning that he would start removing people, “If there are further outbursts, I will ask for people to be removed. I will start with the sergeant-at-arms and then I will go to our Bonner County Sheriff’s Lieutenant to assist at maintaining order.” Omodt added that he would continue further and request legal opinion from the county prosecutor, Louis Marshall, who was also in the room.
Williams came prepared to speak with her own microphone, as she had been silenced repeatedly during past meetings. “We’re going to deliberate on this issue. We’re not going to silence,” Williams said. She specifically asked Omodt to name who drafted the letter to Hayden Ross, the external auditor hired by the county, and why her fellow commissioners were so against discussing a forensic audit of the fair board while knowing the possibility that thousands of dollars in missing funds were in fiscal year 2022. The letter referenced by Williams was sent to the audit firm specifying that only fiscal year 2023 would be audited.
It was at this time Omodt abruptly called for the lengthy recess.
