Dalton Gardens lawsuit in judge's hands

DALTON GARDENS — A judge has taken under advisement a request by the city of Dalton Gardens to toss out a lawsuit by residents who accuse the City Council of breaking the law by approving a development on a 5-acre parcel in town.

First District Judge Lansing Haynes may decide the case as early as this week, or it could be longer. In the meantime, residents of a group called Save Dalton Gardens, which brought the suit, are preparing for a recall election.

Dalton Gardens city officials, including council members and Mayor Steve Roberge, were given five days to resign after a petition last fall gathered more than the 420 signatures required for a recall election. The number represents 25 percent of the city electorate.

Votes gathered to recall each candidate at the March 15 election must be equal to or exceed the number of votes each official received to be elected.

Recalling Mayor Steve Roberge would require at least 345 votes.

Roberge, whose seat comes up for election this fall — along with council members Jamie Smith and Scott Jordan — said he has been spreading the word among residents explaining why he thinks the push behind the recall is flawed.

“I don’t blame people for signing the petition,” Roberge said. “They care about the city.”

And he is encouraging people to come out and vote because a school board levy is also on the ballot. He wants people to make an educated decision regarding the recall effort, he said.

“I’m hoping people will look at the facts,” he said.

Dalton Gardens resident Eric Nelson doesn’t think a recall is warranted because the four-lot subdivision the city entered into with a Dalton Gardens family, whether a judge finds it right or wrong, doesn’t warrant a recall of the entire council.

“Those people were elected by the majority of the citizens,” Nelson said.

A recall would require the governor to appoint a new council.

“You’ll have new people in there that we didn’t even elect,” Nelson said. “I don’t see that being beneficial to the city.”

If residents want to change the council and mayor, he said, why not wait until the regular election?

At least 110 votes in the March election must favor recalling Dalton Gardens council member Joe Myers while 122 voters must elect to recall Denise Lundy. Recalling council member Scott Jordan requires 337 votes for a recall, and for Jaime Smith it’s 418 votes.

Jeffery Crandall, one of the leaders of Save Dalton Gardens, who is adamant that the city broke its own rules by allowing a back field subdivision in town, fears the council decision could set a precedent.

“We believe this is a monumental issue for our city,” Crandall said. “We’re determined to see it through.”

Dick Flugel moved to Dalton Gardens from Hayden Lake almost 20 years ago because of Dalton Gardens’ big, rural-type lots and country atmosphere.

The City Council’s decision to allow a family to subdivide its acreage and allow building on lots without street frontage — as the city’s ordinance requires — was just the first straw, Flugel said.

He thinks what spurred the latest recall effort more than the council’s land decision was a recently announced plan to widen Fourth Street, possibly adding sidewalks, swales to catch stormwater, a bike lane and roundabouts. A rebuild would change the rural atmosphere and attract motorists, he said.

“The property issue was just the start of it,” Flugel said.

When the city made public at a meeting a few weeks ago it had been awarded a $4.5 million federal grant for the Fourth Street work, the announcement rattled many city residents.

“We don’t want the traffic,” Flugel said.

Flugel said the city has been working behind the scenes since 2012 to secure the federal money, but few people knew about the plan.

“That is what everyone is up in arms about,” he said.