Although the newly elected Libby City Council intends to deal professionally with whatever civic matters come before it in 2010, the distrust, accusations and legal maneuvering that ensued between council members over the last several months could make that difficult.
The new Libby council had its first meeting Jan. 4, and while Mayor Doug Roll said it “went very well,” suspicion by a councilman that Roll might prevent him from being sworn in at the meeting’s beginning shows just how much ill regard exists between the two elected officials.
Councilman D.C. Orr has been locked in a rhetorical battle for months with Roll in the pages of Libby’s newspaper, The Western News, after Orr filed a restraining order against the city clerk, Glena Hook, in November, claiming he was under “threat of violence” from her. Although things got so bad other council members took it upon themselves to escort Orr in and out of city hall so he didn’t have a one-on-one encounter with Hook, Orr dropped the restraining order shortly before a judge was to hear it, and reportedly asked for a “group hug” on the council.
Calling Orr a “dishonorable individual,” Roll wants an investigation into the councilman’s conduct toward the clerk, charging that Orr used a “false sworn statement with the justice of the peace to procure a bogus restraining order.”
“He uses innuendo, fabrication, half-truths and outright lies to defame the integrity of anyone who disagrees with him or gets in his way,” Roll wrote in a Dec. 24 letter to the newspaper, where he stated he would begin the recall process if the council did not remove Orr. “He must be removed from office in his zeal to expose some imagined corruption and conspiracy. He has brought unneeded disruption to this council.”
So when Orr didn’t see his name on the list of those scheduled to be sworn in at the first city council meeting of the year, he immediately suspected Roll and Hook might try to prevent him from taking his oath of office.
“He was just going to try to not swear me in,” Orr said, who then asked his supporters to show up at the meeting to ensure he would be allowed to take the oath.
“He had quite a crew that was there to support Mr. Orr,” Roll recalled.
Several law enforcement officials, as well as three new council members and Orr, a returning councilman, were all scheduled to be sworn in at the meeting, Roll said, so the mayor told the clerk not to list anyone’s names on the agenda, but only the names of the three new council members ended up there. Roll chalks it up to a minor printing error, saying he had no plans to deny Orr a seat on the council.
“He has a very paranoid outlook on the world,” Roll said of Orr. “To think that I would pull something and not swear him in – I’m not that kind of guy.”
The suspicion over the swearing in marks only the most recent incident in what has been a tumultuous period for the Libby City Council, and how it arrived at this point depends on whom you ask. Roll says his sole problem with Orr stems from how he treated Hook, the city clerk. But Orr traces the entire issue to his belief that the Environmental Protection Agency is defrauding Libby out of $2 million it owes the city for the demolition of several asbestos-contaminated buildings.
“What (Roll)’s trying to do is deflect from the real situation,” Orr said, adding that the mayor’s call for a hearing into his conduct is, “just designed to distract and it has done a real good job of that.”
In November Orr filed a formal complaint with the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General alleging the agency was obligated to pay Libby $2 million for the demolition of several city-owned buildings along the Kootenai River that formerly served as an export plant for W.R. Grace. The buildings came under city ownership about a decade ago, and were torn down by Grace under the direction of the EPA when it became clear the buildings could not be cleaned of their asbestos contamination.
The EPA has said it considers the matter closed, and Roll said his research indicates the previous council accepted a $15,000 waterline at the time and moved on.
“There’s nothing there,” Roll said. “We’re not going to get $2 million; I don’t see it ever happening.”
The buildings were eventually rebuilt on land owned by Tony Berget, the former Libby mayor and current Lincoln County Commissioner. Orr said Roll’s “loyalty” to Berget explains why he isn’t on board with Orr’s pursuit of the $2 million. Roll was appointed to mayor after Berget left for the county commission, and was elected as mayor in November.
“I gave the mayor every opportunity to quit saying we had accepted a $15,000-waterline in exchange for $2 million of infrastructure,” Orr said. “That’s when things got really bad.”
“He had the city clerk just start harassing me unmercifully,” he added. “Filing the protection order put an end to these kinds of shenanigans.”
But Roll backs up Hook, as have other council members, calling her “probably the best city clerk we’ve ever had.” The situation deteriorated such that Roll had to rearrange seats at council meetings so Orr and Hook weren’t near each other.
“What D.C. did was unconscionable; I mean it was terrible,” Roll said. “The guy’s uncontrollable – he has done nothing on the council other than cause trouble.”
Hook’s attorney, Todd Glazier, said last week he planned to file a motion seeking compensation from Orr for the roughly $3,500 in legal fees Hook incurred preparing for her hearing on the restraining order.
Roll is letting new council members settle in to their positions, but plans to introduce a motion calling for special hearings into Orr’s conduct toward the clerk some time in the next month.
“It’s a council decision,” Roll said. “I’m just requesting that they look into it.”
But Orr said were he removed from the council, he would head straight to court.
“I would go and get an injunction to be put back on the council and all it would do is cost the city a lot of money,” Orr said. “The courts are loathe to remove an elected official short of criminal activity.”
For Barb Desch, newly elected to the council, the public dispute between city officials was alarming at first.
“After the election I went, ‘Oh my goodness, what am I getting myself into?’” she said. But after seeing how smoothly the first meeting went, she has more confidence the council will be able to get down to business.
“I don’t see where there will be a problem,” Desch said. “Right now I think that we all will be able to work together just fine.”
As for whether hearings on Orr’s conduct could affect the council’s camaraderie, Desch said she will wait until she hears all the facts, but she still believes the council will be able to attend to business.
Orr, meanwhile, is focused on the EPA’s response to his complaint, which he acknowledged could be years away.
“Once we get through the record of decision with the EPA, all this will just kind of fade away, but that’s really where the big fight is,” Orr said. “Hopefully it won’t be back to business as usual, but it’ll be back to business.”