Former CVFSA board members drop lawsuit

The Western News

With the dismissal of a lawsuit brought about by two former board members of the Cabinet View Fire Service Area against Lincoln County, it appears the long saga may be drawing to a close.

Former CVFSA Board Members William Clark and Robert Mast, who brought the suit in an attempt to stave off dissolution of the fire service area, now admit a petition drive did not have the necessary signatures to prevent dissolution.

“You can call it a concession, if you want,” Clark said Thursday. “We knew in April we would likely do a petition drive, and it took a lawsuit to find out in October how many signatures we needed.”

Clark, who was the CVFSA board chairman, said as much as he tried he could not get a definitive answer from Lincoln County commissioners as to the number of signatures required. In October, CVFSA petitioners learned the number of real property owners to be 295, exceeding the actual number of valid signatures on the petition.

Clark and Mast, represented by attorney Kim Christopherson, argued the move to dissolve the CVFSA was made “in arbitrary and capricious disregard of the overwhelming evidence against dissolving the fire service area.”

The lawsuit asked to nullify the commissioners’ decision and to require the county to clarify the procedure for counting property owners in future cases involving fire service area petitions.

The main issue was self-governance. Cabinet View FSA officials believe its board is its governing body.