Five entities agree to split cost of taking Lewiston to court

County, port, school district, LCSC, LOID unhappy about city’s storm water charges

By Sandra L. Lee of the Tribune

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
An agreement to split attorney fees among five governmental entities suing the city of Lewiston over storm water charges was signed Monday by the participants.

The lawsuit seeks to have a judge decide if the city’s storm water charge is a fee or a tax. If it is a tax, a vote of residents would be required prior to implementation.

The county, Port of Lewiston and Lewiston School District will each pay 28 percent of the attorney’s charges, with Lewis-Clark State College picking up 12 percent and the Lewiston Orchards Irrigation District 4 percent.

The five entities agree to pay their shares up to a total of $60,000, after which if one or more withdraws, a new agreement will be negotiated with different percentages. At 28 percent, the county, port and school district are committing to $16,800 each, the college to $7,200 and LOID to $2,400.

They will be represented by Theodore Creason of the Lewiston law firm of Creason, Moore and Dokken.

In other business, the commissioners congratulated and thanked Larry Smith, county extension agent, for his 29 years of work. Smith is retiring at the end of the month and will be honored at a dinner Thursday night sponsored by the Nez Perce County Grain Producers. It begins with the group’s board meeting at 4:30 p.m. at the Red Lion Hotel in Lewiston, followed by a social hour and no-host bar at 5 p.m. and dinner and the annual meeting at 6 p.m.

In turn, Smith thanked the county for its continuing support of the extension program, which is run by the University of Idaho.

—

Lee may be contacted at
[email protected] or (208) 848-2266.