Voters, not coin toss, to settle irrigation district tie

By BRIAN WALKER

Staff Writer

HAYDEN — Voters, not a coin toss, will settle the tie that resulted from a Hayden Lake Irrigation District board election held last November.

The district, which serves areas of Hayden, Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai County, will hold a re-election on March 5 from 1 to 7 p.m. at the district office, 2160 W. Dakota Ave., Hayden, to settle the tie between incumbent Doris Fleming and challenger Matthew Alexander.

The re-election will be held after Ed Morse, a former state legislator and current Hayden business owner, expressed concern that he and at least one other property owner were unlawfully denied the opportunity to vote in November.

"Owners of property in corporations or LLCs do not have to be residents of the district to vote," Morse wrote in an email to The Press. "(The district) denied those owners the right to vote."

The vote in November for the three-year seat on the three-member board resulted in a 10-10 tie between Fleming and Alexander.

Morse, owner of A2Z Storage on Ramsey Road, said he was shocked when he was turned away from voting.

The district sought a court order to hold a coin toss to settle the tie. However, Mores sued the district to stop the coin flip because he believes he was denied the right to vote.

"I had to sue (the district) because they refused to allow me to cast my votes in the last board election," Morse said.

Judge John Mitchell ruled that Morse had a right to intervene in the case and stop the coin toss.

The district then agreed to hold a re-election.

Attorney Susan Weeks, who represents the district, said both sides believed it would be simpler and less expensive to hold a re-election rather than have the matter go to trial and drag on further into the year and board member's term.

"A practical solution to an impractical circumstance," Weeks said.

The court ruling allows representatives of both A2Z Storage LLC and Morse Family LLC to cast a vote in the new election.

It also directs the district to develop an election guide to train poll workers to prevent more voting mistakes in future irrigation district elections.

Branden Rose, the district's administrator, referred an inquiry from The Press on the matter to the district's website that has information on the new election.

Both Fleming and Alexander have been serving on the board in the interim until a winner is decided.

"Both have been sitting in and participating in board meetings so they are up to speed," Weeks said. "One of them will end up holding the position retroactively to Jan. 1. There's a lot of development going on in Kootenai County, and that is impacting us. We're working on a water tower and reviewing and approving substations."

Both Fleming and Alexander abstained from the voting process that set up the re-election due to the possibility of a conflict.

Morse earlier wrote that he believes the denial of him to vote was an attempt by the district to protect its leadership.

"Quit trying to exclude votes and throw this election," he wrote in an email to the district. "It clearly influenced the outcome of the election."

Morse said he has concerns about the district's interest of raising rates for commercial property owners and believes the board has limited discussions about those plans.

If the re-election also results in another tie, assuming that all qualified voters are allowed to vote, a coin flip or draw directed by a court order would settle the tie, Weeks said.

Fleming and Alexander couldn't be reached for comment on Tuesday.