Canyon County in the News
These are several news articles on Canyon County over the past several years. You will find several of them below and will see that there has been a good deal of turmoil. It’s important to follow these issues as they will impact your taxes and rights. We have divided the articles by individuals, or who the article is about. Currently this is Leslie Van Beek and the hostile work environment lawsuit and the three current commissioners on serval items. These articles are from established news sources and you will find straight forward journalism here. If you would like opinions, you can head to our Facebook page and find community opinions and comments there. We encourage you to support local journalism by subscribing to the Idaho Press Tribune, the Idaho Statesman, and Boise Dev.
Leslie Van Beek
• Canyon County is the first and only County to be dropped from ICRMP (County’s insurer) due to increasing civil court cases against Commissioner Van Beek, the County, and the pending judgements for millions of dollars
• Canyon County is now forced to be self – insured.
• Commissioner Van Beek is on her quest for a 4th Human Resources Director[2].
• The first HR director has a pending lawsuit (over a $1 million claim) for creating a hostile work environment, harassment, and violation of the County’s settlement agreement[3].
• Strained relationships between Van Beek and other elected officials[4]
• With strong concerns about liability for the actions that Van Beek had taken in her official capacity as a commissioner, and the costs thereof for the County, all of the elected officials asked her to resign in 2022. Van Beek refused to resign and waged a public war against the other elected officials. The elected officials were essentially gagged and could not speak on the issues due to pending legal cases.
FOOTNOTES
[2] https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/canyon-county/article288252515.html#storylink=mainstage_card
[1] https://archive.ph/xs7DU and https://archive.ph/xs7DU
[2] https://archive.ph/zfIAW and https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/canyon-county-hiring-human-resources-director-commissioners-hold-off-on-creating-chief-operations-officer-position/article_d4dc8bd4-1cb6-578b-b04d-6f2d2b6fa247.html
[3] https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/2025-trial-date-set-for-lawsuit-alleging-a-hostile-work-environment-at-canyon-county/article_b398b170-fe8e-11ee-96f9-173dbe693ee6.html
[4] https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/no-confidence-canyon-county-elected-officials-call-for-commissioners-resignation/article_69fe0221-009f-5814-9123-39e53644314f.html
Commissioners: Brooks, Van Beek & Holden
EVOLUTION OF COUNTY CLERK TRANSITION
• Long time Public Information Officer Joe Decker was ousted by Van Beek and the newly elected Commissioners in 2023.
• Making room for a new position of Director of Constituent Services[5].
• One interview took place, which was not with the person who they gave the position to[6]. (Go to page 531 for executive session minutes on interview)
• No other BOCC meetings took place before Rick Hogaboam was hired at 8.5% higher pay grade than the maximum[7] for that position. This violated the Open Meeting Laws (again).
• Commissioners hire 3 “outside” attorneys for legal counsel costing the County taxpayer in upwards
of $40,000 in less than 3 months[8]. This number will continue to grow. This process of hiring outside legal council is circumventing the use of the duly elected Prosecuting Attorney.
• BOCC hires Commissioner Van Beek’s personal attorney, David LeRoy. Neither party states a conflict of interest. The board is spending this money. It is note the prosecuting attorney.
OPEN MEETING LAW VIOLATIONS RESULT IN CHARGES AGAINST THE BOCC - with reference to filling the office of County Clerk.
• Public Records show that Prosecuting Attorney, Taylor, agreeing with allegations, and following protocol sent this to another county for investigation. [8a]
• The BOCC has spent taxpayer money on hiring outside legal counsel to help them “try and find out who would accuse them”. You can listen to the recording here. [8b]
• Commissioners ignore an independent report from a trusted law firm, that they paid for with taxpayer money, in allegations against Chris Yamamoto. Greg Rast pushes this agenda stepping outside his role. [8c]
AN ODD ENTANGLEMENT WITH VAN BEEK'S CAMPAIGN TREASURER OUTS RESPECTED CONTROLLER
• Long time County Controller Zac Wagoner was pushed out after 22 years of service (13 as the County Controller). Wagoner was well thought of and considered an excellent budget writer. Van Beek has always had a vendetta against Wagoner because he and Van Beek’s treasurer, Eljay Waite, never saw eye to eye on budgeting. KTVB described Waite as a shadow commissioner [9]
OPEN MEETING VIOLATIONS IN THE BUDGET PROCESS
• This lead to a lawsuit for violation of Idaho's Open Meeting law.[10a]
• The Board’s aggressive behavior towards former Commissioner Smith for mentioning the potential violation requesting to have her forcibly removed by the sheriff’s if she mentioned it again. [11] FY24 Budget hearing, go to 1:20:30 for beginning of Keri Smith’s testimony regarding open meeting law violation
THE POPULAR COMPREHENSIVE PLAN PASSED IN 2022 IS DISMISSED AND REPEALS PLANNED [11a]
The Commissioners fail to implement [12]the 2030 Canyon County Comprehensive Plan[13]
In their +450 days in office the only ordinance amendment that they adopt reduces the public’s ability to submit evidence at public hearings[14]. BOCC give direction to staff, then staff (Sabrina) relays message that a repeal will not happen, but an updated plan is needed. No public work on it since then
COUNTY SERVICES USED FOR ELECTION
Use of County Print Shop for campaign materials not once but 4 times[15] in violation of the state’s Public Integrity in Elections Act. Van Beek’s lawyer statement is coincidentally the same lawyer the BOCC just signed an agreement with to represent them at additional taxpayer dollars due to PA Taylor’s following protocol and sending violation charges to outside counties for investigation.[16] Does this mean the County is footing the bill for her campaign violation charge too?
FOOTNOTES
[5] https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/v31thmq1fm2qqbrf1amte/2023-12-21_R-Hogaboam_Response-Constituent-Services-PRR.pdf?rlkey=rlvexoqdj7molgu1iothpaqnp&dl=0
[6] Go to page 531 for executive session minutes on interview: https://www.canyoncounty.id.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/BP_2023_Complete_updated-02.07.24.pdf
[7] https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/euxksrhzt9xx9clbcaww7/23-167-BOCC-Resolution.pdf?rlkey=nfoepteupivkz8slhoegg9n4y&dl=0
[8a] Protocol followed by Prosecuting Attorney when Commissioners don't follow open meeting law
[8b] Commissioners spend taxpayer money on legal counsel for their actions
[8c] Rast oversteps his authority by mischaracterizing outside report on Yamamoto https://archive.ph/4SXNv
[9] Link to shadow commissioner story describing Van Beek and Eljay’s relationship, including the budget concerns (Wagoner and Yamamoto) : https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/idaho-press/emails-reveal-tension-over-idaho-commissioners-non-elected-advisor/277-2bfcbf3f-fda5-49fa-97ca-86b0cd096538
[10] https://boisedev.com/news/2023/09/08/canyon-county-open-meetings/
[10a] Lawsuit for Violation of Open Meeting Law
[11] FY24 Budget hearing, go to 1:20:30 for beginning of Keri Smith’s testimony regarding open meeting law violation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8R9lid1xmH0
[11a] https://vimeo.com/917263198[12] DSD Director rolling out a plan to repeal and BOCC commission discussion: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/poxytbeuog0yt8k8vqmvh/Feb-9-minutes.pdf?rlkey=3t8nx6gkp0fzefgu0wqhgyari&dl=0
[13] Story about support of the community for the 2030 comprehensive plan and preservation of agriculture. https://www.postregister.com/farmandranch/southwestern_idaho/canyon-county-residents-prioritize-agriculture-in-comprehensive-plan-survey/article_e8b883dd-d21b-5a1a-b09e-7d1523434f07.html
[14] BOCC give direction to staff, then staff (Sabrina) relays message that a repeal will not happen, but an updated plan is needed. No public work on it since then. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.canyoncounty.id.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2.16.23-PZ-Minutes-1.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj13tWDupOGAxWEETQIHYRZAU0QFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0M2Kvgyex_0dFBxXP-EB7q
[16] https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/canyon-county/article288252515.html#storylink=mainstage_card