Suit alleges county officials violated open meeting, public participation laws

A Libby resident and businessman is alleging the Lincoln County Port Authority has violated the Montana Constitution and state statues in violation of the right of public participation and open meeting laws.

Libby attorney Amy Guth recently filed a lawsuit upon behalf of her client, Daniel Torgison, who most recently owned the Switchback Bar and Grill. Torgison is accusing the Lincoln County Commission, Port Authority and John Does 1-15, of hiding its business dealings with Noble Investment Properties, Inc., specifically the sale of 185 acres, owned by county taxpayers, from the Port Authority to Noble in 2023.

The suit alleges that Torgison became aware last month the Port Authority entered into transactions with Noble Investment Properties that may not have been fiscally sound, didn’t include public participation and competing businesses expressed a concern of favoritism.

Among others, the suit alleges the Port Authority maintains its own bank account, separate from the county, but its records are not available to the public as county records. It also alleges that unlike county boards or districts, the Port Authority’s budget is not lodged with the county Clerk and Recorder.

It also accuses the Port Authority of not maintaining employment pay records and that those records are not available to the public as county records.

In addition, the suit said county Commissioner Brent Teske said in public on Oct. 30, 2024, that the affairs of the Port Authority are audited each year. But the suit alleges the Port Authority hasn’t been audited since 2021.

The suit also alleges the Port Authority has met and taken action in violation of the Montana open meeting law as well as transferring real and personal property without extending the opportunity for the public to participate in the decision making or to comment as to the proposed transaction.

The suit also alleges the Port Authority has failed to post proper notice of the time and location of its meetings. “Neither Lincoln County nor the Lincoln County Port Authority advertise or publicize the meetings of the Lincoln County Port Authority or post proper notice of the time and location of its meetings.”

“Buried in the Lincoln County Clerk and Recorder website under “other boards” is a listing of the Port Authority Board Members and the time of the meetings,” the suit states. “ The location of the meetings is @ Port, which is a large tract of property with numerous buildings. Upon information and belief, the Port Authority Board meets at the Lincoln County Courthouse and has for years.”

According to information on the Clerk and Recorder section of the county website, the Port board meets on the third Monday of each month at 3:30 p.m.

Former Lincoln County Commissioner Jerry Bennett is listed as the Chair of the Port board with his term expiring in December 2027. Teske is listed as the Commissioner’s representative to the board. Kevin Peck, Chris Bache and Tony Petrusha are also listed as board members. Peck’s term expires December of 2025 and December 2029 for Bache and Petrusha.

According to July 17, 2024, county Commissioner minutes, Bennett and Peck were approved as citizen at large members following the recommendation by the Port Authority Board.

It's not the first time county officials are accused of violating open meeting laws. A story from the March 26, 2021, edition of The Western News reported on a breakfast meeting at a local restaurant in Troy where two former commissioners, Mark Peck and Bennett, met March 9 with representatives of the Troy Area Dispatch Board.

The meeting was about the future of Troy Dispatch. Because the meeting included two of the three county commissioners, a quorum was established. Because of that and the fact that they discussed a matter over which the commissioners had a measure of control, state Constitution experts said officials should have advertised the gathering.

The Western News sought comment from various county officials, including new Port Authority Executive Director Kate Stephens, Commissioners Brent Teske, Jim Hammons and Noel Duram and county Attorney Marcia Boris.

Duram provided a comment.

"I am aware of the lawsuit and will be reviewing it with the County Attorney. As the newly elected County Commissioner, I have no knowledge of the alleged actions in the lawsuit by Daniel Torgison," Duram said. "I am deeply concerned about the allegations inside this complaint and how they will affect Lincoln County and the citizens.

Boris said the county Attorney's Office does not comment on ongoing litigation.

The current suit also alleges Lincoln County nor the Port Authority publicizes the Port Authority agendas prior to meetings in the local paper or on its website. It also accuses the county and Port Authority of not posting minutes of the actions of the Port Authority on the county website since May of 2022, unlike all other county boards and departments.

The court filing also detailed efforts by Torgison to understand the actions of the Port Authority.

He asked Guth how to find information about the Port’s activities involving its property. She attempted to obtain information from public sources about the Port Authority’s affairs, but learned none was available.

Then, on March 13, 2025, Torgison asked the Port Authority to produce contracts and agreements it entered into in the last three years. He sought a 14-day deadline, but Port Authority officials complained that time was insufficient to produce the requested documents.

According to the suit, this confirmed the Port Authority had taken significant actions in violation of the open meeting law.

Torgison then amended his request to only contracts and agreements with Chris Noble and his related entities.

On the 14th day, Lincoln County Attorney Marcia Boris produced documents related to Noble Investment Properties, LLC. The documents indicate that between 2022 and 2023, the Port Authority received an offer from Noble Investment Properties to buy Port Authority’s real property.

In 2023, the Port Authority sold 185 acres of taxpayer owned real estate to Noble Investment Properties.

Following credits for property cleanup, Noble agreed to build a county road on the property to be purchased and with a reimbursement from a county grant, Noble Investments paid about $3,600 per acre to buy prime highway frontage real property owned by the county taxpayers.

It is believed that the market value of similar property is $50,000 per acre, the suit alleges.

The suit also alleges the Port Authority failed to seek input and bids without public participation and in violation of open meeting laws.

Torgison also reported reviewing minutes from a Feb. 24, 2020, Port Authority meeting when Brett McCully said Levi Thompson was interested in buying some property from the Port near the river. According to the meeting minutes, Bennett said he thinks it would have to be done by a bid process.

Guth and Torgison are no strangers to the Port Authority and area business affairs. She is currently representing him in a 2024 suit against the City of Libby for breach of contract in relation to a sewer line he installed for his business in 2021.

Guth was an original member of the Port Authority when it launched nearly 22 years ago to enhance economic development in the community. She said she left the Port board two or three years later because of concerns relating to some county dealings with Arizona-based Stinger Welding.

According to an April 2010 story in The Western News, the county commissioners, John Konzen, Marianne Roose and Tony Berget, voted to finance a $3.37 million building at the Kootenai Business Park to house Stinger’s bridge building operation. Stinger was to obtain a loan but it did not go through. The $3.37 million in financing included a $1.5 million lump sum paid directly to Stinger.

But the partnership between the county and Stinger quickly soured with news of the company halting employee benefits, the company being hit with a $341,000 federal tax lien and the Port Authority filing suit against Stinger in 2012 for failing to live up to its agreement to finance construction of its facility. 

The county ended up paying back more than $500,000 for unpaid property taxes and grants in 2018.

$388,398 went to Fisher Industries, former owner of the Stinger building, for past due property taxes, penalties and interest.

$141,586 was paid to the Montana Department of Commerce for money the county received and granted to Stinger for job creation.