Spokane lawyer hired for OVIC suit

Whitman County commissioners selected Spokane attorney Milton Rowland Monday to represent the county in the injunction suit filed by the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct.

“He’s very well respected in Spokane. I think he could represent us quite well,” Commissioner Greg Partch told his fellow commissioners Pat O’Neill and Michael Largent in a workshop session Monday morning.

Commissioners met with Rowland Monday morning to prepare a petition to superior court for approval to have Rowland represent the county instead of Prosecutor Denis Tracy.

“You have a great prosecutor here,” said Rowland. “His name, however, is all over the complaint. I was litigation counsel for the city of Spokane for 14 years, and sometimes what plaintiffs would do to try to keep me off the case is name me in the lawsuit.”

The county was sued Jan. 24 after agreeing to increase the county’s contribution to infrastructure construction at Hawkins Companies’ 714,000-square-foot shopping center site from $9.1 million to $15 million.

In a 2-1 vote last week, commissioners elected to dismiss Tracy from the suit in favor of outside representation. O’Neill doubted Tracy could put aside his personal objections to the commitment. Partch questioned Tracy’s expertise in civil cases. Largent cast a dissenting vote.

Largent abstained from Tuesday’s vote.

“As this was an initiative by the two other commissioners, and I was in the minority, I thought it would be best that they determine for themselves the proper path,” he said.

Largent also voted against the Jan. 3 decision to increase the county’s contribution to infrastructure construction.

The decision to hire private counsel must be approved by a superior court judge.

Partch approached Rowland’s Spokane firm, Foster Pepper, after being referred to him by Brian Werst with K&L Gates. Partch said he first asked Werst to represent the county, but the K&L firm had a potetential conflict of interest.

Werst represented Partch when Roger Whitten of Oakesdale asked for recalls of both Partch and O’Neill in July 2010. That legal round ended when the court ruled the allegations against the two commssioners did not meet the threshold to qualify for a recall action.

Rowland, a former attorney for the city of Spokane and a law professor at both Gonzaga University and the University of Idaho, told commissioners Monday he will petition the court to approve a contract that would allow him to represent the county.

“And I hope it’s with Mr. Tracy’s blessing,” he said.

Tracy, though, continued to criticize the expense of hiring an outside attorney, saying again he could put aside his personal objection and fairly represent the county.

Cost of hiring outside counsel has been estimated at upwards of $50,000.

“This is just one more decision on which I disagree with the commissioners,” Tracy told the Gazette after Monday’s session.

“I’ve expressed my views to the board. I think they’re making a mistake,” said Tracy. “If the judge wants my opinion, all he has to do is ask.”

Judge David Frazier recused himself from hearing the injunction suit last week, but it is uncertain if he will rule on the attorney issue.

Lincoln County Judge John Strohmaier was appointed Monday to hear OVIC’s injunction suit against the county and Hawkins.

Rowland said Monday his firm will not charge the county if the judge denies the petition.