County
Ada Treasurer vs Commish Feud Gets Nasty
October 15, 2015 
Among Ada County Courthouse workers and close observers, it is no secret there is a nasty feud underway between the Commishes and Treas Vicky McIntyre.
It became very apparent when she filed criminal allegations against the three commishes who were all exonerated following an eight month investigation by the Idaho Attorney General. She alleged a quid pro quo relationship with Republic Services fee hikes for campaign donations.
The latest round came when the Commishes passed out 2% pay hikes effective October 1 to the county elected officials–with the EXCEPTION of McIntyre.
In a scathing letter dated September 28–just two days before the new fiscal year begins–the Commishes ticked off a list of reasons for not granting the office a pay hike. It was signed by Commishes Jim Tibbs, Dave Case, and Rick Yzaguirre.
Some excerpts:
–High personnel turnover in the Treas office.
–Revelation of employee info not subject to public records law.
–Boise Food Company settlement (GUARDIAN is unaware of this item)
–Property Tax bill envelope matter. (This was an address error, but payments made the destination via a bar code on the return envelopes.)
–Admin concerns requiring reviews and audits.
–Health and safety concerns for employees handling estates.
–Process changes adversely impacting Treas office and other offices.
–“Strained relationship across the county with multiple stakeholders
–Fail to personally present financial reports at open business meetings
McIntyre told the GUARDIAN, “There are other matters pending in my office and I would rather not comment at this time.”
The Treasure letter
To insure more advertising-free Boise Guardian news, please consider financial support.
Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Oct 15, 2015, 6:56 pm
How incredibly petty.
Oct 15, 2015, 8:07 pm
When there’s this kind of nasty trouble erupting into public view and costing public money, someone simply needs to get fired.
Too bad it’s so difficult to do that these days.
Term limits also need to be in place nation wide in every elected position.
Oct 17, 2015, 6:43 am
Good to know the circus at Ada County is still in action, wasting time, energy, and taxpayer money. Lest we forget that Sharon Ullman and Vicky McIntyre are good buddies. We can thank Sharon for Vicky even running for office. And some of the allegations Vicky brought in her request for criminal charges against the Commissioners are the very same negative statements one can read on Ullman’s blog back in 2012. Peas in a pod. Gratefully, Ada County is rid of Ullman. However, just as McIntyre was unopposed in her first run for office, she was reelected this year unopposed as well. Citizens need to pay more attention to elections, particularly when bad incumbents skate through. We seem to be stuck with her through 2018 unless someone figures out how to impeach/remove her.
Oct 17, 2015, 2:24 pm
I know the people of Idaho are smart enough to let all the facts come out before rushing to judgement. Let both sides be told and don’t believe everything you read.
Oct 18, 2015, 12:35 pm
All Commishes are elected by the majority of those who bother to vote and immediately begin their OJT. (On Job Training).
They are merely deciders, not necessarily equipped with the skill sets to make wholly informed decisions about county expenditures.
It is never easy for anyone to speak truth to power especially when ego and temper are the court of first resort when responding to any criticism.
The fact remains that the current commission is the most heavily litigated/litigating BOCC of any in history.
I attribute this to the fact the current “deciding cabal” do not have a background in business law or civil law period.
One would think that coming from a law enforcement background, knowledge of the law would be a given, but there is a big difference between starting a fight because they can and understanding the cost to clean up the complaints they have create.
Ada County taxpayers are currently paying hundreds of thousands of unbudgeted dollars on a number of legal defenses with an equal number of outside counsel providers.
The fact remains that Ada County’s in-house legal staff was overwhelmed long ago.
Nothing short of a paradigm shift in either the Commish management style (or who populates the Board) will stem the tide of taxpayer dollar hemorrhages being spent on their bad decisions.
IMO, the treasurer’s office is doing a far better job of watch dogging taxpayer dollars than the Commishes. Every unnecessary expenditure must cross the treasurer’s desk, so of course she is going to know where the bodies are buried. Accusing her of not playing ball and turning a blind eye to their collective misprision is the real agenda here.
Are these Commishes the best candidates this valley can come up with?
Oct 20, 2015, 6:16 pm
Aggrieved Party
“The fact remains that the current commission is the most heavily litigated/litigating BOCC of any in history.”
Facts to support this?
“Are these Commishes the best candidates this valley can come up with?”
I believe they are better than the last bunch – at least two out of the three.