Recall hearing continued

The effort to recall Libby Mayor Doug Roll will continue its hiatus today after defense attorneys on Thursday were granted another week before the hearing.

The hearing that would determine if the recall effort is allowed to proceed, initially scheduled for today, has been rescheduled for 9:30 a.m. on August 23 in Lincoln County District Court.

On July 29, Nicole Siefert, of the Rhoades & Siefert law firm in Missoula, filed and was granted a temporary restraining order against Lincoln County Administrator Leigh Riggleman, Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson and Tammy Brown, the Libby resident petitioning to remove Roll from office since mid-June. The restraining order bars Brown from collecting signatures, and Riggleman and Benson from collecting petitions circulated by Brown.

Lincoln County Attorney Bernard Cassidy will represent county employees Riggleman and Benson in the suit, while Doug Scotti, of the Morrison & Frampton law firm in Whitefish, will represent Brown. On Aug. 23, Scotti will argue why Roll’s restraining order against the petition should be overturned.

The restraining order filed by Siefert claims that the violations alleged in Brown’s petition are invalid. The alleged violations of office include hiring on former City Attorney David Tennant without the council’s consent, and refusing to add items to the city agenda that were requested by former City Council member Dejon Raines. Siefert’s brief of support for a restraining order claims that the petition is invalid because it is based merely on “the best of her knowledge” rather than facts, while Roll was simply hiring Tennant on a temporary basis to address the high volume of city cases and Raines did not follow city council procedure when requesting the items be put on the agenda.

The petition was first validated in mid-June and had since collected over 300 signatures, Brown said at the August city council meeting. The petition group must collect the 329 signatures from city resident voters by Sept. 17 to put the measure to a ballot.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.