Judge dismisses OVIC suit to stop hike in Hawkins pact

The order dismissing the injunction suit filed against the Whitman County and Hawkins Companies was filed July 31 in Whitman County Superior Court. The order was signed by Judge John Strohmaier of Lincoln County who was assigned to preside over the civil suit.

The suit was filed by the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct, a group of residents who contested the county’s extension of an agreement to help fund infrastructure for the proposed Hawkins shopping center on 204 acres of property located north of the Moscow-Pullman Highway on the Washington side of the state line. The suit asked the court to void the amended agreement which extended the county’s commitment to Hawkins to $15 million.

Judge Strohmaier’s order included a stipulated agreement signed by attorneys for all three parties. The agreement recognizes that the principal issue in the lawsuit is moot because the amended county contract with Hawkins, a $5.9 million addition to the county’s original commitment, has expired. The amendment for the added funds included a Jan. 30 deadline this year for starting work on the project.

Failure of the project to start before the deadline ended the amended agreement.

The original 2008 Hawkins agreement with the county, calling for $9.1 million in county participation, remains on the county books.

Attroneys for all three entities involved in the suit signed the agreement and submitted it to Judge Strohmaier with the proposed order of dismissal last week. Attorneys include Prosecutor Denis Tracy for the county, Robert Rembert of Pullman for Hawkins Companies of Boise and Timothy Esser of Pullman for the Organization to Void Illegal Conduct. Most members of OVIC reside in the Colfax area.

The dismissal order calls for the three parties involved in the suit to pay their own legal costs and expenses.

Filed by Esser Jan. 23, 2012, the civil suit contended then commissioners Pat O’Neill and Greg Partch had already agreed to approve the amended agreement when it came up on the agenda at the Jan. 3, 2012, public meeting of the commissioners.

The suit contended Partch, who was then chairman of the commission, refused to allow public comment and discussion from several concerned citizens who attended the public session. It alleged reading of prepared statements by Partch and O’Neill indicated they had already approved the measure before the public meeting.

The controversy listed in the OVIC suit became an issue in the 2012 commissioners election when both O’Neill and Partch lost their seats on the commission. Both of their successors, Republicans Art Swannack and Dean Kinzer, during the election campaign, said they opposed spending public funds for the Hawkins development.

Commissioner Michael Largent, who is unopposed in his bid for re-election this year, voted against the Hawkins amendment.

The move to amend the orginal contract and bump the county commitment to $15 million was pushed by Hawkins representatives late in 2011 with a request for a quick decision on the part of the county. In the subsequent rounds of discussion, Prosecutor Tracy presented the commission with a report that set forth his concerns about the agreement.