Victor Called an Emergency Meeting Over a $70,000 Fee Demand, Then Adjourned Without Direction

VICTOR — The Victor City Council called an emergency meeting July 14 to weigh a demand for up to $70,000 in the legal fees of residents who had opposed the city's wastewater-plant financing, then adjourned without giving its attorney any direction after members split over whether the meeting was legal.

Victor had asked a court to confirm about $35 million in borrowing for a wastewater treatment plant of its own. Three residents opposed that petition in Teton County District Court: former county commissioner Cynthia Riegel and Kevin and Rachel Kirchner. When the council dropped the plan and withdrew the petition July 1, the residents' attorneys at the Boise firm Bailey & Glasser sought to recover their legal fees.

A letter from the residents' attorney, Nicholas Warden, reached the city Friday, July 10, while city hall was closed for the weekend, and set a Monday deadline to settle before the firm filed its fee motion. Victor's special counsel on the matter, Paul Fitzer, told the council the firm's own filing deadline was that Thursday. He put the difference at about $56,000 if the city settled and $69,000 to $70,000 if the firm filed, while cautioning that a filing "doesn't mean they're getting that."

Councilor Amy Ross questioned whether the situation met Idaho's threshold for an emergency meeting, the designation that lets a city waive the 24-hour public-notice requirement. "I seriously question whether this falls under the realm of emergency," Ross said. She noted that a council member who knowingly violates the open-meeting law can be fined $1,500, and $2,500 for a second offense within a year, and said the city could have asked Warden for an extension or noticed a regular special meeting a day later.

Fitzer told the council that the "immediate financial loss" provision of Idaho Code 74-204 could support an emergency, given the money at stake, though he called the residents' Monday deadline "arbitrary." Whether the notice complied with the open-meeting law, he said, was a question for the city attorney, Herbert Heimerl, who was not present.

Mayor Sue Muncaster asked Fitzer what he would do if the council gave him no direction. He said he would tell Warden that a Friday letter left the city too little time to respond, that Victor remained willing to negotiate, and that the firm could file its motion Thursday to preserve its claim.

Councilor Emily Sustick, joining online, moved to enter a closed session with Fitzer, arguing the council should follow its lawyer's advice. The motion drew no second. The council then voted to adjourn.

The next day, July 15, the two sides filed a stipulation extending the residents' deadline to file the fee motion. The fees themselves remain unresolved.

Riegel was in the audience and questioned the basis for the emergency during public comment. Her attorney had set the Monday deadline that prompted the meeting. Two other residents also asked what the emergency was.

What to watch: Bailey & Glasser had yet to file its fee motion under the extended deadline as of July 16, and the amount Victor may owe will not be set until the firm does. Fitzer told the council the two sides remained in negotiation.

Sources

• Victor City Council special meeting, July 14, 2026
• Teton County District Court, CV41-26-0046
• Victor drops its Driggs lawsuit and its bid to build its own plant
• Victor appoints Sue Muncaster interim mayor