From the Latah County Prosecutor's Office, I recently
received a small packet of documents, public records from the
investigation of Paul Kimmell and the charges that, despite conflict of
interest, Kimmell voted on property tax exemptions for Doug Wilson's
church and college.
These records are copies of minutes of the meetings of the
Christ Church governing body, the Head of Households, during the period
November 2000 to September 2001. Paul Kimmell was appointed Latah
County Commissioner in March of 1999. Doug Wilson first applied for
property tax exemption for his church property in 1996 (a building at
116 West 6th that has now been sold by the church and is no longer
exempt). The Commissioners legally must review and accept all property
tax exemptions every year.
The first of those records (Head of Households meeting on
November 7, 2000) includes a report on the church's efforts to buy land
for a new church building: "land acquisition, for which Paul Kimmell has
been hired to help in negotiation."
The Head of Households report for December 5, 2000,
includes: "Paul Kimmell reported that he has been working with Mr.
Hall's attorney regarding the purchase of land. He has been working
with the Kenworthy family regarding the parcel of land to the east of
our property."
The Head of Households report for January 2, 2001, includes: "Paul
Kimmell will be meeting on January 5 with the owner of the property....."
The Head of Households report for May 1, 2001, includes in
the church building section: "Roy Atwood reported that he and Paul
Kimmell have been trying to schedule a meeting with Mrs. Kenworthy."
My questions for Paul Kimmell:
1. According to these records, you were hired by the church before
November 7 of 2000, and were still working for the church in May
of the next year when the reports in the file conclude. When did
your contract end, or are you still under contract to the church
to help with land acquisition?
2. Since 1999, as a member of the Latah County Commissioners, you
reviewed the requests for property tax exemption by the church
that employed you. Until the issue of conflict of interest was
brought forth by Rose Huskey and Saundra Lund in the hearing in
July, you never excused yourself from those decisions. Why?
BL
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