Saundra McDavid

Not one month into his administration and the City of Eagle has been sued under Mayor Bandy’s watch. If the Idaho Statesman is to be believed, it appears the Urban Renewal Agency left out some major considerations when it was formed, like making provisions for our school district. This is the same district which is struggling to keep up with schools due to all of the development approvals Mayor Bandy has made during his tenure in planning and zoning and city council. But what was most concerning to me was that the school district spokesperson implied that the school district is willing to come to a settlement. Generally, if you have an aggrieved party so willing to come to a settlement, you settle BEFORE it ends up in court. This saves on attorney fees and saves the taxpayers’ money. But that apparently wasn’t the situation here. The city attorney, Susan Buxton, is now lining her law firm’s pockets again at our expense. Over an agency that Mr. Bandy so pointedly touted as his suggestion during the mayoral campaign. Over an Urban Renewal district which allows the city to take anyone’s property under eminent domain, and sell or give away that property to a developer. There is no requirement that the property even be put out for bid. I remember the prior city council aghast when I mentioned that fact in a debate; they said I was not being honest when I made those statements. I guess they didn’t read the draft of the bylaws of the agency. This Urban Renewal Agency is asking the Eagle residents to put a lot of faith in a government which has so obviously sided with the developers in the past.

Another concern of mine is the legal actions that seem to pop up around Mayor Bandy. He’s started his administration with one, thanks to the Meridian School District. Last year he was named as one of the defendants individually and as former Deputy Director in a Tort Claims Action against the Department of Agriculture for harassment and discrimination actions against an employee. During the campaign, I heard his role as president of his homeowner’s association ended with a lawsuit against the subdivision, resulting in higher homeowner’s fees. It was sadly amusing how I was quoted as being “contentious” by the Statesman (which endorsed Bandy) yet the paper failed to mention Bandy’s situation.

While I’m on the subject, let’s clear up that rumor as well. As far as my own homeowner’s association experience, our homeowner’s association pays nearly $30,000 a year on landscaping fees. I requested that we put the contract out for competitive bid and was met with resistance. I was told that I was the only person who thought it odd that our subdivision spends so much money mowing our grass and that I was the only person who wanted the contract put out for bid. So I walked a petition around the subdivision and collected 51% of the homeowners’ signatures, which made the rest of the board members very angry. On a side note, the current landscaper is a personal friend of one of the board members, (who did not recuse himself from the discussions or the vote) and the landscaper provides extra services for select members of the subdivision free of charge. When I see something that doesn’t appear right I will speak out. Some people don’t like that. If that is contentious, so be it.

And then there is the judicial review petition over the increased density in the East Linder area. Phil Bandy made the residents so angry that they requested an appeal of a city council decision. No efforts at compromise were made, even though the residents repeatedly requested to work out a compromise. And the city reportedly paid over $20,000 in attorney’s fees to prevent the appeal from being heard? Too bad Susan Buxton’s law firm isn’t a public company, as it surely is in for a windfall over the next four years. I’d like to purchase stock.

Mayor Bandy, please learn from your past actions. Please make an effort to work with the people in your community so that our city isn’t spending our tax dollars on attorney fees to fix problems that could have been resolved had you listened to the citizens of your City.