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Private Investigators in the News:
Posted July 17
County Commissioners Hire PI to Investigate Planning Department
Commissioners in Flathead County in Montana decided Thursday to hire an independent private investigator to look into allegations of illegal activities within the county’s planning and zoning department, The Flathead Beacon reported.
Commissioners Jim Dupont and Dale Lauman voted unanimously to hire Ike Eisentrot of Moonlighting Detective Agency, a Kalispell-based firm, for the job. Commissioner Joe Brenneman was out on vacation.
“I think it adds credibility to hire someone from outside our system to do it,” Lauman said, adding that detractors wouldn’t be able to call the investigation biased.
Specifically, the commission said Eisentrot will be looking into allegations of improper notification for public meetings and other violations of state open meeting and records laws. His contract with the county is for $75 per hour up to $5,000.
Eisentrot’s contract with the county says he will submit a written report when he finishes the assignment or reaches the spending cap, whichever comes first.
Commissioners said Flathead County Auditor Paula Robinson is in the process of completing a report addressing further claims against the department regarding fiscal abuses. She is reviewing claims, invoices, receipts and credit card charges filed by the planning department since 2007.
Over the past month, a relatively small, but vocal, group of citizens have pushed for drastic changes within the county’s planning department, including suing over neighborhood planning efforts in Lakeside and Somers and circulating a petition demanding Jeff Harris, the department’s director, be suspended.
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