AG: No charges in Dover inquiry

SANDPOINT — After an intensive six-month investigation, the Idaho Attorney General’s office has declined to file any criminal charges in connection with alleged improprieties by Dover officials.

The investigation was prompted by claims of financial mismanagement involving the waving of public utilities payments from a local church and improper budget expenditures on city personnel. Further allegations regarding violations of open meeting laws were referred to the state’s Civil Litigation division, where they are currently being investigated.

Because the county assigned the Attorney General’s office the right to both investigate and make criminal charging decisions, the opinion of the Attorney General’s office is final, Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said.

“I feel comfortable with the decision that they found irregularities, but they did not find them to rise to the level of criminal prosecution,” Robinson said. “There are some questions — they use the word irregularities — but if we had to make the decision, I cannot say I would have made a different decision.”

The investigation began in January, when Dover City Councilman Louis Collins contacted Robinson about his concerns regarding Mayor Randy Curless and Councilwoman Maggie Becker.

Collins reported that Curless had authorized vacation pay and benefits for two employees that Collins believed were part-time workers, making them ineligible for the benefits.

Collins also alleged that Becker directed former Dover City Clerk Ruth Guthrie to refrain from billing Becker’s church, the Dover Community Baptist church, for water and sewer services.

During its investigation, the Attorney General’s Office also discovered that from July 13, 2000 to Nov. 2, 2007, the city of Dover donated $7,190 to the church to help pay for utilities. The payments were made in part because, prior to the construction of Dover’s City Hall, the City met once a month for council sessions in the church’s community hall, according to the report.

In his letter to Robinson, Collins claimed that city employees Hal Overland and Kym Holbert were receiving full-time benefits while working less than full time. Investigators found that both employees met the 32-hour threshold for full-time employees and that Curless did not act improperly when he approved their payments.

In a 427-page report submitted to Robinson, Deputy Attorney General Stephen Bywater said “… while there is evidence that there was a benefit conferred uniquely upon the Dover Community Baptist Church through the waiver of utility fees, there is insufficient evidence to support and prove a violation of any specific criminal statute by any city official or employee in this case.”