Government & Accountability

VICTOR — Victor's city council made its mayoral appointment on July 8, naming Sue Muncaster interim mayor, and several residents told the council it had set aside the open, public process it adopted a week earlier. The record shows July 8 was the council's original date for the vote, an option it kept open when it moved the date to July 22.

At the July 1 special meeting, the council agreed to fill the seat left by Mayor Will Frohlich, who resigned effective July 1, by appointing one of its own members. At the July 8 meeting it settled on Muncaster in a 3-0 vote, with Councilmember Amy Ross, the only other candidate, abstaining after she withdrew.

Newly posted agendas put two contested land-use decisions on the county calendar. On Monday, July 13, the county commission opens a 10 a.m. hearing on an industrial rezone of 14 acres north of Victor, a change the county's own planning commission recommended denying. The next evening the planning commission takes up a permit for a 383-person event barn off Highway 33. Monday is also the federal deadline to object to the Grand Targhee expansion, and the county's objection is on the agenda too.

VICTOR — The Victor City Council appointed Councilmember Sue Muncaster interim mayor Wednesday night, filling the seat Will Frohlich left when he resigned July 1, after the only other candidate, Councilmember Amy Ross, withdrew her nomination.

The Grand Targhee objection deadline falls July 13, the same day the county commission opens its mid-month meeting. The commission continues into July 14, when three more bodies join it: the county planning commission, the Tetonia City Council, and the Victor Planning and Zoning Commission. The stretch opens quieter, with Driggs rental and subdivision hearings and the Victor council working through its mayoral succession, the handoff the valley has watched since Mayor Will Frohlich resigned.

DRIGGS — Teton County, Idaho collected $341,718 this year in Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, the federal program that reimburses local governments for the untaxable public land inside their borders. The Teton County PILT payment is one of the smallest of any county in the state, less than a seventh of what Teton County, Wyoming received for the same reason.

VICTOR — The Victor City Council voted July 1 to drop both its lawsuit against the City of Driggs and its petition to court-finance a wastewater plant of its own. Dropping the lawsuit clears the condition Driggs had set before it would reopen talks on a single plant for both cities. Both dismissals are without prejudice, so Victor keeps the right to refile.

DRIGGS — Teton County's three commissioners spent June 23 closing a $130,000 hole in next year's budget, trimming and shifting the few lines they are allowed to touch. Idaho's property tax cap left them no room to raise the money: a 1995 law holds the growth in a county's collections to about three percent a year, even as assessed values double.

DRIGGS — Late in a budget work session on June 23, County Administrator Billie Siddoway raised an idea she had discussed before with the clerk: ask voters for a permanent property tax override, one that would lift the county's tax base for good. The board made no decision. But it put on the table the one move the county otherwise can't make: reset the ceiling on what it collects. It surfaced even as the county holds savings, its own auditor has called larger than it needs.

VICTOR — The residents who pushed Mayor Will Frohlich to resign have registered a political committee, the Victor Valley Collective, to carry their campaign past the recall and into Victor's city elections.

VICTOR — Victor's mayoral handoff comes July 1, when Mayor Will Frohlich's resignation takes effect, and Council President Stacy Hulsing becomes acting mayor. The council takes up an interim appointment a week later, on July 8. Between the two, Driggs and Tetonia hold the land-use hearings that carry the window: a short-term-rental rewrite and a 37-lot plat in Driggs, and the Pinnacle Peak development in Tetonia. The stretch opens with two Driggs comment deadlines on June 29 and a holiday weekend in the middle.

DRIGGS — Idaho's homeowner's exemption takes half the value of an owner-occupied home, up to $125,000, off the amount the county taxes it on. In Teton County, 2,764 of the county's 7,323 residences carry the exemption, according to figures a county commissioner presented at a June 23 budget work session. Roughly 4,500 do not.

VICTOR — Mayor Will Frohlich resigns effective July 1, saying he could defeat the recall petition filed against him but would not put the city through a months-long fight over it.

DRIGGS — The city council voted June 16 to authorize up to $95,000 for the Driggs runway repair, a project that will abandon for good the buried irrigation line that damaged the runway at Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport.

A Victor special meeting and a two-day county commission session anchor the week ahead, alongside the Driggs council and the Teton 401 school board. Victor convenes after canceling its regular date, and midweek the state is set to lock in the financing for the Driggs wastewater plant. The quieter second week brings a new state short-term-rental law and the county clerk's signature-verification deadline.

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council heard FY27 funding requests from seven community organizations and county agencies at its June 16 meeting, six of them routine asks for a few thousand dollars each and one, from the Teton County Sheriff's Office, for $400,000.

DRIGGS — Driggs' attorney told Victor's lawyers last week that the city will reopen negotiations over the wastewater plant that has split it from Victor only after Victor dismisses the lawsuit it filed against the city. Victor filed that lawsuit in March, after nine hours of mediation between the two cities ended in January with no deal.

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council voted 4-0 on June 16 to design the rebuilt Driggs wastewater plant large enough to keep treating the City of Victor. City staff presented it as the only option left, and the council called it one it had "no choice" but to take. On the record the city built that night, it was also the cheaper plant, the one Driggs can bill Victor for, and the one that protects the state money already lined up. It was the obvious call, as much as a forced one.

Voting for the Fall River Electric board of directors returned two incumbents and added one new member at the cooperative's annual business meeting in Driggs on Saturday, June 13. More than 6,600 owner-members cast ballots online, by mail, and in person at the utility's 88th annual energy expo, held at Teton High School. Five candidates ran for three seats. Directors serve three-year terms, and this year's ballot covered three of the cooperative's districts.

DRIGGS — The next two weeks build toward June 24, when the state is set to lock in the financing for the Driggs wastewater plant and Driggs-Reed Memorial Airport holds a public conversation about a runway closure tangled up with a burst pipe. Before then, the county commission takes up its FY27 budget in a special meeting, and the Teton Rock Gym's deadline to leave the Driggs Recreation Center arrives. The stretch opens Tuesday, June 16, when the city council takes up the 60% design for the plant the same day it meets with the Environmental Protection Agency.

DRIGGS — On May 1, 2026, Mayor August Christensen told the Jackson Hole News & Guide that re-engaging Victor on a wastewater partnership was "a no-go" because of the lawsuit Victor had filed against Driggs eight weeks earlier. Three weeks later, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rescinded its approval of Driggs' Driggs-only treatment plant design. Five days after that, Driggs City Attorney Sam Angell wrote to Victor's lawyers. He cited the cities' 2011 contract, put Victor on notice that it could owe a share of the upgrade's debt service, and invited Victor's representatives to the June 2 Driggs council meeting.

DRIGGS — Two letters now in the public record give the clearest look so far at what each city wants. Driggs gave Victor until Oct. 1, 2030, to disconnect. Victor wants joint powers instead.

DRIGGS — The Driggs consent decree set a hard federal deadline to rebuild the city's wastewater treatment plant by Dec. 15, 2028. The city now treats February 2030 as the deadline and is still working to secure the federal sign-off that would make the later date official.

The Driggs wastewater plant heads to a 6 PM public hearing next Tuesday, the day the city also meets with the Environmental Protection Agency. It is the council's first hard call on the 60% design since the federal consent decree clock started running. Before that, the Teton County BOCC holds a two-day FY27 budget review on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Driggs Planning & Zoning Commission hears a proposal for a 69-room Cobblestone Hotel, and a Wyoming-Idaho workshop on Grand Targhee convenes at the courthouse.

DRIGGS — Driggs Council President Allison Michalski told Victor's representatives on June 2 that the city cannot enter a wastewater partnership through a joint powers agreement (JPA) because Driggs alone holds the federal permit and the consent decree behind it. Earlier in the same meeting, the city's public works director and its attorney had told the council the opposite: that state and federal regulators are open to moving that permit to a jointly owned entity. The council voted unanimously to table the decision to June 16.

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday to vote on whether to rebuild the city's wastewater plant for one city or two. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rescinded approval of the Driggs-only design eleven days ago.

DRIGGS — Driggs presents the 60-percent design for its $25 million wastewater rebuild to council Tuesday; Victor returns to court the same afternoon on the judicial-confirmation petition tied to its $35 million wastewater project, and the Teton County commissioners take the Centennial Estates settlement back up Monday, June 8.

VICTOR — Organizers turned in more than 300 signatures Tuesday for the Frohlich recall, the Teton County Clerk's office said, above the roughly 230 needed to force a recall election.

DRIGGS — Memorial Day opens a two-week window anchored by the Centennial Estates Settlement and an agenda dense enough to fill two consecutive Teton County commissioners' meetings, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Victor Watch Dogs mailer arrived in Victor mailboxes between late March and early April. The semi-glossy, one-sided card carried a dog-logo masthead, the words "Victor Watch Dogs," and a four-point case against the city's wastewater decisions. In a box at the bottom of the page, under the small-type attribution "Paid for by Greg Davis," the third of three action items instructed readers to "sign the petition for a recall election" by emailing a recall-campaign address.

DRIGGS — Primary day on Tuesday, May 19, is the busiest single day in the two-week ahead. Idaho's statewide primary, the Teton County Road & Bridge Levy, and the Driggs City Council hearing on the Alexandria Condos rezone all land on the same Tuesday. The Tetonia state-land auction follows Friday, May 22. Memorial Day on Monday, May 25, then rearranges the county's regular 4th-Monday meeting cycle.

An independent CPA examination jointly commissioned by Driggs and Victor concluded that Driggs overcharged Victor for years on the cities' shared wastewater loan, used a cost-allocation method the inter-city agreement does not authorize, and could not reconcile two of three quarterly bills the auditor tested. The report, signed by Cooper Norman in Idaho Falls on February 9, 2024, became part of the public record on March 27, 2025, when the Victor City Council voted to end the 26-year partnership and build its own treatment plant.

VICTOR — Victor City Treasurer Jasmine Griffin told the City Council on May 13 that if Teton County voters reject the road levy on May 19, Victor will open its next budget year about $200,000 short on road funding, a gap the city would cover from its Local Option Tax. Update, May 20: The road levy passed.

DRIGGS — Driggs is borrowing $25 million to rebuild its wastewater treatment plant without a bond election. The Driggs City Council adopted Resolution 421-24 on Sept. 3, 2024, authorizing outside counsel to file for judicial confirmation in district court. A confirmed judgment is the city's legal authority to take on the debt.

DRIGGS — The week ahead in Teton Valley loads five development applications onto the joint Driggs and Teton County Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) docket for May 12, the centerpiece of a two-week stretch that also runs a full Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on May 11, the county's Land Development Code (LDC) public hearing on May 18, and the Idaho primary on May 19. The county had not posted cover pages for the May 11 BOCC and May 12 P&Z hearings to the eScribe portal as of Sunday night, but staff reports and supporting documents for every item are on file.

The week ahead in Teton Valley packs three of the spring's biggest civic items into a single Monday. On May 11, Teton County commissioners are scheduled to rule on whether neighbors have standing to reopen the Sweetwater Subdivision approval, the written-comment window on the county Land Development Code rewrite closes at 5 p.m., and Idaho DEQ holds a virtual info meeting on the $25 million wastewater funding package that ranks Driggs first on the state's draft list. The following Tuesday, Driggs Planning and Zoning takes up the 171-lot Corona Valley Subdivision. The window closes Sunday, May 17, a quiet day before May 19, the heaviest civic day on the spring calendar.

VICTOR. The Victor City Council rescinded the Evans wastewater land deal at a special meeting, repealed the January annexation, and adopted an ordinance to exclude the parcel from the city limits. The City Attorney's April 29 staff report says the city and the seller "have agreed in principle to terminate" the contract; the rescission agreement includes de-annexation as a term. The council voted unanimously.

DRIGGS — Two of three Teton County commissioners questioned the breadth of exclusivity in a proposed new RAD franchise agreement at a Friday work session, with the third reluctant to disturb a working relationship. Commissioners declined to act, pushing the discussion toward amending the existing contract. The fallback is putting waste collection out to competitive bid for the first time since 2015.

The week ahead in Teton County puts three separate hearings in the courthouse on Monday: a Board of County Commissioners business meeting, a reconsideration of the Sweetwater Ranch Subdivision after a resident petition, and the first town hall on the new Teton River recreation ordinance. Idaho organizers face a Thursday deadline to turn in signatures for the reproductive rights ballot initiative. Wildfire Awareness Day lands Saturday, May 2. The following week opens with a Driggs City Council meeting on May 5 and goes quiet through the weekend of May 9–10.

VICTOR. The Victor wastewater fight reached its next milestone Wednesday when City Council voted 3-1 to amend the fiscal 2026 appropriations ordinance by $2,625,366 and to disburse $1,984,035.25 to close the Evans purchase, a 40-acre parcel at Highway 33 and 7000 South, the site of the city's planned independent Class A treatment facility. Councilors Sue Muncaster, Emily Sustick, and Stacy Hulsing voted in favor. Councilor Amy Ross dissented. Mayor Will Frohlich was absent.

VICTOR. City Council on Wednesday directed staff to discontinue Victor's standalone public records policy and administer requests under Idaho Code Title 74, but left the substantive questions driving the work session to a future meeting, including how the city treats third-party IT pass-through charges, who reviews disputed bills, and whether resident Ashley Coletti will get another hearing on the balance she is contesting.

DRIGGS — Idaho DEQ placed Driggs wastewater funding at the top of its draft Clean Water State Revolving Fund priority list for fiscal year 2027, making the city eligible for up to $25 million to rebuild its treatment plant.

The Victor City Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to approve a $2 million Evans land purchase for the city's planned wastewater treatment facility and, in a separate vote, ratified the city's pending lawsuit against the City of Driggs on the same margin.

VICTOR — A Victor ethics complaint against the city's one-person consulting firm prompted two attorneys to examine whether a conflict of interest exists. Both concluded it does not. The consultant, Troy Butzlaff of Athenian Partners LLC, has held overlapping contracts as interim city administrator, capital and special projects manager, and executive director of the Victor Urban Renewal Agency since 2021. Out of "an abundance of caution," City Administrator Jeremy Besbris wrote in an April 8 email responding to the complaint, the consultant was asked to make a disclosure to the VURA board.

Victor P&Z commissioners will hear two continued applications Wednesday night, the council faces a critical vote on the Evans property closing April 22, and the Grand Targhee expansion open house anchors a week packed with public input sessions across Teton Valley.

DRIGGS — The judicial confirmation hearing for the Victor wastewater borrowing plan has been rescheduled to September 11-13, expanding from a single-day hearing originally set for April 7 to a three-day proceeding, according to Teton County Court records.

DRIGGS — The Driggs City Council approved a $428,211 park-and-ride construction contract, a trail easement across school district property, the first-phase final plat for the White Antler subdivision, and new parliamentary rules at its Tuesday meeting.

DEVELOPING: The judicial confirmation hearing on Victor's petition to borrow $35 million for an independent wastewater treatment facility, scheduled for April 7 before Judge Steven Boyce, has been delayed. The Valley Signal is requesting details on the reason and rescheduled date. Updates will follow.

VICTOR — The wastewater numbers in the Victor-Driggs fight start at $35 million, the figure that has dominated the debate since Mayor Will Frohlich announced plans to build an independent treatment plant. Critics call it reckless. The recall petition cites it. Councilmember Amy Ross, the lone dissenting vote on the judicial confirmation, warned in January that she doesn't think "anyone understands the full financial implications of $35 million in debt."

VICTOR — Spring break empties the valley this week, with no government meetings scheduled. The week of April 6 brings Victor's judicial confirmation hearing for a $35 million wastewater plant and packed city council agendas.

In the week ahead, five things to watch in Teton Valley: a county commission meeting, a land-use workshop on subdivision rules, and two public hearings in Victor.

For more than 25 years, the cities of Victor and Driggs have shared the Driggs wastewater treatment system. That partnership is now the subject of a major lawsuit, a mayoral recall effort, and more than $65 million in proposed infrastructure spending between the two cities. This is how it happened, what the lawsuit says, and what comes next.

Update: The Victor Wastewater Hearing was Pushed to September as of April 7, 2026.

DRIGGS — The Teton County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 on Monday to adopt revised juvenile ordinances covering runaways and minors "beyond control of parents." The revisions follow a sharp community backlash after the commission first adopted the ordinances in December.

DRIGGS — Teton County voters will decide on May 19 whether to renew the Special Road & Bridge Levy, a two-year funding measure that has appeared on primary ballots every cycle since 2010. This year's request: $1.5 million per year, up from the $1.4 million approved in 2024.

DRIGGS — Teton County commissioners will review proposed revisions to the controversial juvenile ordinance provisions on runaway and "beyond parental control" cases at their meeting this Sunday, March 23.

VICTOR — A group of Victor residents is attempting to remove Mayor Will Frohlich from office, filing a recall petition with the Teton County Clerk on March 10.