City signs agreement for prosecution services

The Weiser city council, during its monthly meeting on Oct. 11, approved an agreement between the City of Weiser, Washington County, and Washington County Prosecuting Attorney Delton Walker to provide legal services for criminal misdemeanors and infractions.

 Those services were previously provided to the city by the Payette County Prosecuting Attorney’s office where Weiser resident Josh Dolton served as Chief Deputy Prosecutor.

 Payette County last spring, however, requested an increase in fees based on the number of hours spent prosecuting cases in Weiser. 

 During negotiations, however, the office unexpectedly informed Weiser officials, after reviewing its available resources, that it would no longer be able to provide the service at all.

 The city then sent a proposal for services to MSBT Law in Boise, which, among other areas, specializes in criminal and administrative law in many cities throughout the state, including Fruitland, Parma, Horseshoe Bend, and other municipalities.

 Weiser officials hired the firm in the past to prosecute cases where there was a conflict of interest with the city’s attorney, Steve Stuchlik.

 Stuchlik announced his resignation last March due to potential conflicts of interest after his wife, Kiley Stuchlik, was appointed as a District Court Judge of the Third Judicial District of Idaho last January.

 “Meanwhile, Josh Dolton was talking with Walker Law Office about moving his practice over here to Weiser and joining Delton,” explained Weiser Mayor Randy Hibberd. “So, we asked for a proposal. It turns out our police department was very satisfied with how things went with the prosecuting attorney’s office in Payette, with Josh. We ended up not getting a bid from MSBT, but we did from Walker Law, so we negotiated and came to an agreement.”

 Walker Law handles criminal cases for the city and the county, and Dolton will now be contracted to handle the city’s misdemeanors and infractions.

 The agreement is allowed under Idaho law, which authorizes counties and cities to enter into interagency agreements for the performance of services authorized by law.

 Hibberd said the agreement makes sense in multiple ways.

 “First, he (Dolton) was already working on the cases that the prosecuting attorney in Payette was working on,” he explained. “He is also local. The third thing, from what I understand, is that it eases the paperwork in the courts to know that anything in Washington County goes to that office.”

 Under the agreement, the city will pay $5,000 per month for the services.

 “When we looked back at the number of hours they (Payette) were spending working on our cases, we decided that it was a fair number,” Hibberd said.