Court to VanMatre – It’s NOT about YOU!

In a motion hearing today conducted by teleconference in the court of Judge Keith G. Kautz, the judge answered a motion by Sweetwater County Commission appointee Don VanMatre to get copies of meeting minutes from Sweetwater County Commission executive sessions where pending legal action against his appointment was discussed. Since the lawsuit seeking to overturn his appointment by the former Board of Commissioners began, VanMatre has made it a habit to leave the room whenever the current board discussed the lawsuit during executive sessions. The current board chose not to oppose the lawsuit filed by Sweetwater County residents, and had sought to agree to a stipulation of the facts presented in the petition.

In his motion today, VanMatre claimed that the current board was in collusion with the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that claims the appointment was made in violation of Wyoming Open Meetings laws because the current board wanted to make their own appointment to fill the seat vacated by former Commissioner Paula Wonnacott when she resigned suddenly on December 30, and so didn’t act in his best interest.

In today’s hearing, Judge Kautz denied the motion on the basis that it is completely irrelevant to the lawsuit that will be heard in his court on February 18. Nothing that happened after Commissioners Debby Delai-Boese and Randy Walker made the contested appointment has any bearing on the case, and therefore the minutes of executive sessions conducted by the new Board of Commissioners during meetings since are inadmissible. The petition specifically challenges only the legitimacy of the actions of the former commissioners, and doesn’t accuse VanMatre of any wrongdoing.

Former Commissioners Debby Delai-Boese, Randy Walker, and Paula Wonnacott, in addition to County Clerk Dale Davis, a former Commission staffer, and a current Commissioner, among others, have been subpoenaed to testify in Friday’s hearing.

Related posts:

1. VanMatre Enters the Fray Don VanMatre filed a motion today to intervene on his own behalf in the lawsuit seeking to overturn his December...
2. February 18 Date Set For Injunction Hearing Judge Keith G. Kautz has set a date to hear arguments in the petition filed by local residents seeking an...