City Government
GUARDIAN Reader Plugs Into Dynamis Deal
November 6, 2011 
The following came into the GUARDIAN as a comment on the DYNAMIS story posted recently. We contacted Commish Vern Bisterfeldt and shared the details of the comment. Bisterfeldt told us, “This is all news to me. I have asked for much of that information for over a year and was unable to get it–that’s why I voted NO last week.” He denied any connection whatsoever with the writer, his identity, or the writer’s motivation.,”I am willing to take a polygraph. None of it came from me in any manner,” he said.report.
EDITOR NOTE–We need reader expertise from anyone in the investment business to comment on this Dynamis REPORT. We can’t even determine if it is the same outfit residing in Eagle.
By GUARDIAN READER
Isn’t it interesting what you can find out if you start digging around in public records?! And wow, astonishing how willing people seem to be to fill you in on what they know when it comes to the topic of Dynamis. Public records show:
Commissioner Fred Tilman met with Dynamis on May 6, 2010 at 9:00 am.,
Commissioner Rick Yzaguirre met with them on May 14, 2010 at 8:30,
Fred Tilman again on May 14, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.,
Fred Tilman again on May 18, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.,
Fred Tilman again on May 27, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Fred Tilman again on June 4, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.,
Fred Tilman again on June 11, 2010 at 11 a.m.,
Commission Sharon Ullman on June 15, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.,
Rick Yzaguirre on June 15, 2010 at 11 a.m.,
Fred Tilman on June 16, 2010 at 3:30 p.m.,
Then suddenly on June 30, 2010, all three commissioners met and signed a contract giving Dynamis TWO MILLION DOLLARS… never before was there ever a meeting held with this group where a quorum of the Board existed.
Employees tell me that there were many meetings off-site and that Commissioner Fred Tilman started all the individual meetings and then as time wound down for him, Commissioner Sharon Ullman picked up being the “go to” person for this group with many more individual meetings. These are the only ones that are documented on calendars thereby creating a public record. The meeting on June 30 was a 15-30 minute meeting stating how great of a partnership this was going to be, etc. and the contract was signed and as I understand it, even documented by a photographer. If you want to check this information, submit a public records request to Ada County asking for them to produce calendars on these dates and times (as it seems like the media organizations, the AG and the Prosecutor should have been doing but yet little ol’ me found this information out by poking around). To fill out a public records request go to: http://www.adaweb.net, click on Commissioners, then click on Public Records Request Information. It will be interesting to see if the records still exist between the time this posting goes public and by the time anyone submits a request.
The BIG issue for me is, it’s obvious these “individual” meetings were an attempt to avoid a quorum and make the issue open to the public as the law requires as it’s obvious, no organization would sign a contract giving TWO MILLION DOLLARS away without a lot of discussion first, a performance bond, etc. (or at least they shouldn’t have) and it’s even more obvious that it was done intentionally in violation of the open meeting law. What makes this so blatant and reprehensible is that two of these commissioners were previously charged and found guilty of violating the open meeting law to the tune of taxpayers paying something like $30k in defense fees. The commissioners paid a measly $150 out of their pockets once found guilty but the big kicker is the other commissioner, Sharon Ullman, touts herself as “Miss Open Government” even advocating open government enough that she won the Max Dalton award and proudly mentions it on her bio. Here’s a clip from her bio posted on adaweb.net.
“She spent 17 years as a public advocate, working on a broad range of issues that impacted Ada County residents including lobbying for responsible sewer implementation rates, water and garbage collection rates, school and property tax reform, and – perhaps most importantly – openness in government. In 1999, Sharon was awarded the first-ever Max Dalton Open Government Award from the Idaho Newspaper Foundation for her advocacy of legislation to promote more transparent government for all Idaho citizens.”
If it wasn’t my money that was being thrown away and my interests not being represented at all by my elected officials, I’d probably laugh about how unbelievable this is but it’s not funny! Bottom line, each one of these three commissioners knowingly violated the Open Meeting law and did so intentionally. I am embarrassed to be a resident of Ada County and to have any of them representing my interests. Thank God Vern voted against the new contract–at least someone is paying attention and representing voters. All taxpayers should be as OUTRAGED as I am.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Nov 6, 2011, 9:55 pm
I think it can all be summed up in the words of a friend of mine—If you buy off on this crackpot scheme, you will greatly enrich me and I will be grateful
Nov 6, 2011, 11:03 pm
Perhaps the Ada County Prosecuting Attorney’s office, especially those attorneys providing guidance to the commissioners, need to brush up on the recent 2009 changes to Idaho’s Open Meeting laws which prohibit even the implication of serial meetings. Here’s a handy link, to the AG’s publication — dumbed down for simply folks like us (and perhaps county commishes):
http://www.ag.idaho.gov/publications/legalManuals/OpenMeeting.pdf
It’s really not that open to debate, what was done was a clear violation of law. There are no such things as informal, pre-conference meetings — these individual serial meetings were deliberative, intentional, and with the purpose of evaluating the terms of a financial decision involving the finances and resources of the people. Every such meeting could only have been conducted to avoid public scrutiny and circumvent Idaho Code §§ 67-2340 through 67-2347. I threw that last part in to make it easier for the prosecutors to do their job. Ahhh, it’s good to be back 😉
Nov 6, 2011, 11:28 pm
Vern might have got it right on this, but utterly failed in the Claddis affair. I’d say he just got lucky. As far as I’m concerned he is just as guilty as the rest when it comes to back room deals. Vote them all out!
Nov 7, 2011, 6:53 am
The first meeting Fred Tilman had with one of the principals of Dynamis was actually 10/21/09.
After the contract was signed and the money given to Dynamis, there were problems with Dynamis repeatedly missing critical deadlines in the contracts. I.e., they took the money and did absolutely nothing to fulfill the terms of the contract. Meetings to address those concerns were deliberately done without a quorum. Ullman met with Dynamis 9/28/10, 11/17/10, 11/18/10, 2/27/11 to my knowledge. The only public meeting on the missed milestones was 11/22/10 (Operations Division)
Nov 7, 2011, 7:40 am
So when will charges be filed against the violation of the open meetings laws?
Nov 7, 2011, 7:48 am
It’s fascinating how Nampa and Caldwell follow the lead of Ada county when it comes to abusing public money via recycling fees, wastewater fees, tipping fees, urban renewal boondoggles etc. etc.
Nov 7, 2011, 1:01 pm
The Statesman had much of this information, ignored it, and wrote puff pieces.
Nov 8, 2011, 6:54 am
Agree with TF Boy. I distinctly recall that the first article in the daily paper about Dynamis back in summer 2010 when it was made public was basically a cut & paste from what the county had released. While it mentioned the $1 a year lease, NEVER MENTIONED the $2 million that had been paid. Yup, that’s your daily newspaper for you. The person at the Statesman assigned to county issues such as Dynamis is good friends with the “fourth commissioner,” a long-time media spin doctor who was hired as the county’s public information officer back in 06 and then promoted (without qualifications) by the last administration to pretty much running the entire county. The daily paper writes what the county hands them. Poor journalism mixed with laziness. Thank goodness The Guardian exists.
Nov 8, 2011, 9:53 am
Oh come on folks this is a great story! More comments please! You have Vern and Sharon doing what they do best, “providing comedy” and a business owner that makes Bill Agee of MK fame look like a humble choir boy. Keep digging GUARDIAN. One other thing the La “Vern and Sharon” scripts are a little dated after all these years of performing.
Nov 9, 2011, 6:13 am
Isn’t it interesting to notice no word out of Commissioner U.? Usually she has a quick response that spews some political rhetoric and doesn’t really say anything. She’s probably wasting the taxpayer’s time and money trying to figure how to deflect the pressure and blame onto someone else. Hopefully the PA’s office is looking into things and will take some action.
EDITOR NOTE–How naive can you get? The prosecuting attorney’s office was the legal advisor on the deal!
Nov 9, 2011, 7:12 am
I read all these articles and postings on Dynamis and the question I have that no one has touched on is – WHY? If this deal is such a great deal for our community, then WHY all the secret and serial, on and off-site meetings? There are no records of these meetings – correct? I’m not dumb! There is no way anyone would blink their eye and have a contract prepared and signed in one 30-minute meeting – there had to be a lot of discussion first as is obvious by the dates and times the readers of this site are referencing. Another WHY is why didn’t someone pick up on this sooner? Do we really not care about our money so much that we just let irresponsible and reckless commissioner(s) (as is obvious from other posts) give it away? I think the AG should be very interested in this and it seems like a forensic auditor might have some work to do. While wining and dining might get you an approval on a zoning application, seems like there would have had to have been something much larger to get three independently elected and thinking individuals to hand over two million dollars without much question or assurance that the voters would get it back. As it stands now, we were told when the contract was signed in June 2010 it would be repaid in 6 mths, that time came and went, NO MONEY. Then Sharon is quoted in the Statesman in February 2011 that it would be repaid within 6 mths, that six months has passed, NO MONEY. So now when is it going to be repaid and WHY is there such secrecy and smoke-n-mirrors information about this deal?
Nov 9, 2011, 10:32 am
You have to look at the powerful lure of what many politicians have come to regard as free money. Most are under the gun with high unemployment soaring internal costs and a public who in the main want the govt. to produce a quick fix rather than tugging on their own bootstraps.
Along comes a company who promises more employment opportunities and at first blush sounds like a good idea–unless you do some research.
It is my understanding that the $2 million was stimulus funds looking for a home under the Obama administration’s push for green energy–Ditto the study in Eastern Idaho to put a waste to energy plant in Dubois, Idaho. Study was paid for with stimulus funds channeled thru the Idaho Dept. of Commerce. That these study’s or lack of said that something was economically viable was pretty much a foregone conclusion as the object was to justify the study.
Exception has been Nampa but they are still trying, they just say the project isn’t big enough. Elected officials have all of the traits of the rest of us including a great reluctance to admit a mistake. Also, like the rest of us a slick presentation is easier to swallow than a lot of tedious research
Nov 9, 2011, 2:48 pm
We don’t know for sure if the $2 million was stimulus funds. As I recall, in the initial reports of this deal Commissioner Ullman said the county hoped to get stimulus funds. If that was the case, did the county apply for and receive the money? If not, why hasn’t the $2 million been repaid? Was Lloyd given an extension?
EDITOR NOTE–The BIB BIG issue is the county is prohibited by the Idaho Constitution from loaning money or credit to private parties. Based on the previously explained intent, it is clearly a loan–despite claims of ownership of design plans which are truly worthless.
Nov 9, 2011, 9:46 pm
The money came out of County money. Whether that money was from stimulus funds from the feds, I am not sure. But the money had been given to the county and the county handed it to Dynamis.
Nov 10, 2011, 7:14 am
Okay, I have some more questions …. as I understand it the money that was given to Dynamis was not stimulus money but money from County coffers from user fees (like tipping fees, etc.) that covered this two million dollar expenditure. While some may say this isn’t taxpayer dollars (it’s from fees), I beg to differ —- really, those that use the landfill and pay the fees are tax payers/uh, we all have mandatory trash service, etc. don’t we?! –we’re users and taxpayers — it’s semantics folks.
All money in the county coffers including those in this enterprise fund comes from USERS WHO ARE TAXPAYERS!! From what I have found Ada County front loaded Dynamis to the tune of $2 Million in hopes (at least from Dynamis’ perspective) of gaining stimulus money that would have been PAID TO DYNAMIS for this project and that Dynamis, once getting this jump start from Ada County, would be able to qualify for the stimulus funding under the Obama administration. Regardless, we have been repeatedly told that we would get the $2 million back within six months.
As stated in previous posts, six month windows have come and gone so what does that mean? When will we get our money back and why doesn’t anyone aside from the Guardian care about this? It’s our elected officials recklessly throwing away our money. Another question for taxpayers is what happens if this project never makes it to fruition as many across the Treasure Valley and surrounding areas predict?
Will Ada County ever recover the $2 million dollars paid for (sarcastically referenced) design plans? An additional tip of troubling information is that Commissioner Sharon Ullman forced employees to process payments to Dynamis very short notice in the sums of at least $250k at a time and that she signed for those herself ensuring delivery to Dynamis.
Get real folks, what other contractor at Ada County receives personal delivery or assurance thereof of a contractual check from one of the CEO’s? Do you suppose that Steve Appleton hand-delivers checks to contractors with Micron —-I think not!! Adding to the many questions on the table: 1) has any other contractor at Ada County had a commissioner personally walk through the payment process for them and 2) why did Sharon push through an “emergency pay” process on Dynamis documentation and 3) why is her signature on the documents for the actual checks once they were cut to Dynamis 4) again, has this ever happened with any other contractor or vendor at the county?
To check my statements, submit a public records request to the County Clerk asking to see all vendor information on the vendor Dynamis or any other contractor you wish to compare them with. You will find Commissioner Ullman’s signature receipting for many, if not all, of the Dynamis $2 million dollar checks that were paid over a period of time. Again, WHY??
There is something that smells really bad about this whole deal. The big question is what is it and I personally think that’s something a forensic auditor is going to have to examine. These commissioners were slick and out of control along with their spin doctor who covers everything up for them but they weren’t that smart or they would have never let the Open Meeting law violations be a topic of discussion.
There is something buried–it’s begging for someone to find it. And, it goes without saying, I/we are dying to know what it is. There is no way all of this is on the up and up.
Nov 10, 2011, 10:25 am
Snow Bunny and Kappa TA Thank you for correcting me on whether it was stimulus funds or not–I made an assumption based on the project at Dubois, Idaho. But it was county money and the County has accepted stimulus funds for other programs. SnowBunny realy hits the nail on the head with the repeated violations of origional agreement as to time frame. Another point that really is beyond my expertise is–How can a $60 million project on county owned property escape the bid process and requests for proposals. There are many waste to energy plants nationwide and internationally. We might even be lucky enough to have the designers of the plants in Spokane or Harrisburg, Pa present better more cost effective proposals. Unclear to me is who pays for running the gas lines to the project and the electric lines out
Nov 10, 2011, 5:33 pm
EDITOR NOTE–How naive can you get? The prosecuting attorney’s office was the legal advisor on the deal!
Point taken and I may have been naïve to think the PA’s office would walk away from a deal they know to be illegal – So now the question is will the AG’s look into this? Normally the AG won’t get involved unless the PA’s office asks them to.
EDITOR NOTE–The BIB BIG issue is the county is prohibited by the Idaho Constitution from loaning money or credit to private parties. Based on the previously explained intent, it is clearly a loan–despite claims of ownership of design plans which are truly worthless.
I’m also wondering if an information request to the Federal Government would show if Ada County actually got any stimulus funds. I’d like to know where the money came from – and whose pockets it ended up in.
EDITOR NOTE–So far the money came from Ada taxpayers, but there is an impending deadline to apply for some sort of energy rebate credit. As it sits, Dynamis has a final construction completion deadline of April 2013 if memory serves us. HArd to go after the loan deal–which it is in our opinion–because they are now calling it a “consulting contract.” Shy of a major smoking gun, we are on hold at the present time.
Nov 10, 2011, 7:35 pm
All County money is taxpayer money, yes. The distinction the Commissioners make is that it did not come from property tax dollars. I too thought it was from stimulus funds, but I stand corrected. Apparently it was from landfill money as indicated by others with more knowledge than I have. i’m sure you can do a public records request to the Auditor’s Office and theywill identify any and all stimulus funds received. They keep very careful and accurate records in that office of every penny coming and going. I would suggest directing all questions to the Office of the Auditor to get a straight answer on these monetary questions. I do not see why you’d have to ask the feds. And I agree with others. The citizens should DEMAND an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office into the illegal electioneering on County time, into the shenanigans of this Dynamis contract, and the variety of other issues people have mentioned. Interesting how quiet the loudmouthed Ullman has become of late…
EDITOR NOTE–Best catch-all term is “PUBLIC MONEY.”
Nov 10, 2011, 10:01 pm
More smoke-n-mirrors—consulting contract! I agree with you Guardian, it’s a loan or just front money that we will never get back – who knows?! So now are you saying they have until April 2013 to pay it back? That’s the first I have heard of that extension. I guess we have really jumped past the 6 mth repayment statements.
Sounds like the story keeps changing or words keeping being added to change the context of the statements. Ullman potential statement: “No, what I (really) meant to say was 6mths after they are rolling in the dough and THEY DECIDE they want to pay us back.” Perhaps someone should check to see if Dynamis shareholders are the children of any of the commissioners. Of course I am being a little facetious but really, how can you get away with that in any other business aside from a dealing with a government agency taking public money (as Guardian so aptly points out).
Regardless of that issue, they still violated the open meeting law MULTIPLE times, not to mention the illegal electioneering amongst a myriad of other actions. If an outside investigator looked at Ullman’s county computer, I am confident they would find so much information that should not have been done on taxpayer equipment it would be shocking to the public and further, since she uses her personal laptop for much of her “county business”, that computer should be seized and the activities nvestigated on that one as well.
As a citizen of this county, I have to admit I am no longer surprised that elected officials all over this country are corrupt. We have it right here in our own county and no one is doing anything about it. Has anyone even bothered to talk to CH2M Hill – the county’s primary engineering firm/asked them for an opinion about the Dynamis project? If not them, has anyone bothered to ask any engineering firm in the valley what their opinion is? Seems like someone would seek out professionals to obtain an opinion as Ada County seems to be ensuring they have the right spin on statements to confuse the average person.
To My Two Cents, loudmouth Ullman likely has a tough time explaining this but I am sure she is working on her infamous response. Let me see, I suspect it would go something like this …. “The former landfill directors did something we had to take care of and former employees are working with Vern to discredit this project and let’s see, we didn’t do anything wrong as we did all these wonderful things for the community like (blather, blather about this or that), and then see, I did such a great thing for our community and I am so proud of it because it was all me, me, me…. I swooped in and saved the day, all the poor county citizens, etc. Perhaps if she isn’t mad at Rick, she may say my colleague and I, blather, blather, blather. Finally, “see, I saved the entire county and again, it was all me, me, me. Oh wait, did I say ME yet? It was me, me, me!! Aren’t you so thankful you have ME?!
I encourage everyone to contact the AG’s office and ask for an investigation.
EDITOR NOTE–Under Idaho law the AG will NOT investigate based on a citizen complaint. The local prosecutor is the sole authority except under very specific circumstances. Based on what the GUARDIAN is aware of, this case has a lot of questionable decisions, but nothing that would warrant a “public corruption” investigation. ALSO, we have reached the saturation point for personal attacks on Ullman or anyone else. Critical comments are fine, but repeated attacks are not our style.
Nov 11, 2011, 10:28 am
So it looks like it is business as usual. The office that would need to investigate any violations of the open meeting law may have been involved or at the very least knows about it. We all know in politics that very little will change unless you have the money to really dig into all of the info. Either that or enough noise is made in a more public forum to bring pressure on the PA’s office. Remember that (supposedly) these people work for us. I encourage everyone to make calls and send emails.
PA’s office 287-770 or 287-7709 [email protected]
Idaho Statesman
President & Publisher Mike Jung 377-6301 [email protected]
Editor & Vice Pre3sident Vicki S Gowler 377-6403 [email protected]
The Associated Press (Boise) 343-1894
KBOI (CH2) 472.2207 [email protected]
Truth Squad http://www.kboi2.com/news/truthsquad/submission
KIVI (CH6) 381-6660 [email protected] [email protected]
KTVB (CH 7) 321-5614 [email protected]
KNIN (CH9) [email protected]
Nov 11, 2011, 10:40 am
Experts in the valley have been asked about the viability of what Dynamis is proposing–The answer from more than one source is yes it is technically feasable but at what cost. Whether you end up paying higher garbage rares, higher electricity rates or are somehow stuck with the bonds the people of Ada county will end up footing the bill and it will not be cheap–2 million is chump change