Opinion : Open Letter: County Attorney addresses call for apology

It has come to my attention that Terry Hertle, Benton County Supervisor, is seeking an apology for comments made by me during the Board of Adjustment hearing held on January 27, 2016.

Unfortunately, Mr. Hertle has chosen to address this in a public forum and has gone as far as stating that I have made “untruthful comments.”

I would like to begin by stating that Mr. Hertle will get no such apology from me. I made no false statements during the hearing.

Mr. Hertle seems to think that I said he did not read the petition.

I, instead, stated that the documents that Dean Brown provided during the November 17, 2015, meeting were not reviewed or discussed by the board of supervisors. These documents included a petition, letters of support, and an email from a realtor addressing the possible effect this operation could have on land values of surrounding properties and suggestions to abate any negative impact on adjoining neighbors. In fact, several of the realtor’s suggestions were adopted in the decision of the Board of Adjustment. 

Those documents were not passed around or discussed by the two supervisors present at that meeting. The Board of Supervisor’s lack of review of these documents is supported by Mr. Hertle’s statements in which he only claims that he reviewed the “petition.” Mr. Hertle likely did review the petition, but had he reviewed all of Mr. Brown’s documents on November 17, 2015, he would have seen that there were additional documents supplied that day.

I did my job at the hearing on January 27th, 2017, which is to provide legal counsel, including alerting those that I am taxed with providing legal advice to with facts that weaken or strength the County’s position.

I am, and will continue to be an advocate for this county, even when that does not necessarily benefit a county supervisor.

The truth is that during the November 17, 2015 board meeting the supervisors did not review the documents or discuss them. Had Mr. Hertle been at the Board of Adjustment hearing, he would have known that I explained that due to the circumstances, the Supervisors had not willfully attempted to ignore Mr. Brown’s paperwork, but their failure to consider it was an error that calls in to question the fairness of the process.

I believe a review of audio recordings from the November 17, 2015, Board of Supervisors meeting and the hearing the January 27, 2016, Board of Adjustment meeting, will support my statements in this letter.

I do apologize to the citizens of Benton County as they have been subjected to ugliness that sometimes occurs with politics. It is my hope that the decision that was crafted by the Board of Adjustment, with input from the Marlows and Mr. Brown and their attorneys, will lead to all parties being able to move on with no further hearings or cost to the citizens.

 Sincerely

 David C. Thompson

 Benton County Attorney