Commissioner is All Hat and No Cattle
by Shari Dovale
There is much happening with the Bonner County Board of Commissioners.
Chairman Steve Bradshaw continues to allow arbitrary decisions to rule the meetings. The public continues to be silenced. And now we see that a good bit of his decision making is controlled by his personal animosity towards the sheriff.
The major topic these days is the campground expansion and RV park for the fair grounds. Two commissioners, Chairman Bradshaw and his subordinate Luke Omodt, insist that they want to expand the fair grounds into the sheriff’s complex.
- The fair board does not want this.
- The sheriff does not want this.
- The people do not want this.
The people always knew that the previous Chairman had an unreasonable dislike for the sheriff. Now the people can see that this animosity has been passed to the new Chairman, and it is just as irrational.
Chairman Steven Bradshaw let his emotions get the better of him and allowed this personal hostility to get in the way of county business. He pointed fingers and yelled at the public that the Sheriff was not an honorable man and less than truthful.
Bradshaw’s ranting may have crossed the line into slander, but it certainly crossed a line.
All of this because the sheriff has stood up on behalf of the people and said he will not allow the commissioners to give away this land without resistance.
“The 20 acre sheriff’s complex property was purchased in 1990 to be used for justice services,” Sheriff Wheeler told Redoubt News. “As your Sheriff, I have a responsibility to the past, the present and the future taxpayers of Bonner county, to see that it will always be available for the intended purpose, regardless of the whims of others.”
The 2 commissioners continually cause disruption to the weekly business meetings, insisting they do not need a third commissioner to get their agenda passed.
This is true, they routinely execute bad business practices regardless of the consequences to the county.
They routinely shut out a duly elected third commissioner to keep her from representing the public’s requests.
They routinely shut out the people from participating.
These 2 commissioners have also violated open meeting laws solely for the purpose of ramming through their agenda. Numerous complaints have been heard and these commissioners seem to almost laugh at the people. Bradshaw calls it personal attacks over which he is willing to clear the room.
This spectacle has gone on long enough. The sheriff has, once again, stepped up to protect the people. He has filed a complaint with the Attorney General’s office concerning the Open Meeting Law (OML) violations.
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We thank Sheriff Wheeler for putting himself in the forefront of this fight on behalf of the citizens. Hopefully this will be enough to rein in these rogue commissioners.
If this does not constrain them, the people are willing to take it to another level.
Related: How Does a Commissioner Silence the Public?
Related: The Bonner County Clown Show
