City Attorney Reintsma plans to leave Libby

Libby City Attorney James Reintsma is making plans to leave Libby.

Reintsma, 42, is under contract with the City of Libby for legal services through December, but his family will leave this summer for Knappa, Ore., where the Reintsmas will make their home.

“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Reintsma said. “It’s a beautiful area, and we have a chance to buy five acres in the woods. It’s really a beautiful area. Near Astoria, it’s about 30 minutes from the beach and about 10 to 15 miles from the Columbia (River), so I’ll still be close to the Kootenai (waters).”

Reintsma is a newlywed, having married the former Crystal Byington in October. Their combined family includes three boys and two girls with ages ranging from 22 to 7 years.

When his contract expires with Libby in December, he will have served four years.

Reintsma got his law degree in 2000 and has been working in Libby since August 2003, and he plans to practice law in Oregon.

Reintsma said his family will make the move to Oregon this summer when his children are out of school. He will continue to live in Libby, fulfilling his obligation to the city and “wrapping up his current business clients here. We’ll be back as both our mothers live here.”

Reintsma’s mother is Jackie Goins; Crystal Reintsma’s mother is Charlene DeShazer.

For Crystal Reintsma, the move will be a chance to be close to her father, Frank Schroeder, who lives in Knappa and from whom they are purchasing the property.

“It’s my father’s property,” Crystal Reintsma said. “It’s a rental that has been in his family for generations. My dad grew up there.”

Mayor Doug Roll, who has worked three years with Reintsma, said he is sad to see Reintsma leave Libby.

“Jim has done a real good job for us,” Roll said. “He will be sorely missed. He will have big shoes to fill.”

Roll said the city soon will begin the process to find a replacement.

“City attorneys for small towns are not easy to find,” Roll said. “We’ve been lucky.”