Kootenai County commissioners weigh conduct, trespass ordinance

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners will consider a code of conduct for county property after an incident earlier this week involving a former county employee. 

Commissioners discussed a proposed ordinance with other county elected officials Wednesday, during the group’s regular monthly meeting. 

The ordinance would prohibit certain behavior, including noncompliance with verbal or written directions issued by county staff, making loud or unreasonable noise, fighting, cussing or using “harassing or abusive language.” Individuals who engage in prohibited behavior may be asked to leave or be trespassed from county property. 

Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson said disruptive behavior on county property tends to pick up during tax collection time in June and December. 

“It’s becoming more and more of an issue,” he said. 

Coeur d’Alene Police Capt. Dave Hagar confirmed Wednesday that police received a call Monday from within the Kootenai County Assessor’s Office about a disturbance involving a former county employee. 

A sheriff’s deputy who happened to be on the administrative building campus made the initial response, Hagar said, though a Coeur d’Alene police officer also contacted Assessor Béla Kovacs by phone and received a request from him to trespass the former employee from the premises. 

The officer spoke to the former employee and trespassed the individual from the assessor’s office, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. 

Art Verharen, chief deputy prosecuting attorney for Kootenai County, said anyone with lawful authority in the county, such as county elected officials and their chief deputies, can trespass an individual from the administration building for exhibiting “inappropriate” behavior. 

Some county officials indicated there was some uncertainty during the incident among county personnel about which law enforcement agency had jurisdiction over the Kootenai County Administration Building. 

“This has always been the jurisdiction of the city of Coeur d’Alene,” Kootenai County Undersheriff Brett Nelson said Wednesday. “They have jurisdiction.” 

He added that this does not preclude sheriff’s deputies from taking action within city limits when needed, such as during Monday’s incident.