Investigation finds 'no wrongdoing'

The results of a third-party investigation into Flathead County Planning and Zoning staff released Wednesday clear planners of allegations of improprieties.

This includes accusations of wrongdoings by the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan Committee in the process of developing the plan.

"It feels good to be vindicated," LNPC Chair Debbie Spaulding said. "Hopefully, we can move on."

Kalispell-based Moonlight Detective Agency was hired in July and paid $10,000 by the Flathead County Commissioners to look into complaints against the planning office made by the American Dream Montana property-rights group and other private citizens.

Private investigator William "Ike" Eisentraut released an 800-page report detailing his examination of 29 separate allegations this week.

"I found no wrong-doing by the planning staff," Eisentraut wrote in the synopsis of his report.

American Dream Montana has already made statements questioning the results of the investigation.

"What I have read so far appears to more fiction and revisionist history than a legitimate investigation," Chairman Russ Crowder said.

There is still a pending lawsuit and request for an injunction to stop the Lakeside Neighborhood Plan filed in Flathead District Court. The hearing on the suit had been continued pending the results of this investigation.

Read more in the Feb. 3 edition of the West Shore News. The full investigation report is available online at http://flathead.mt.gov/commissioner.