COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho — After a long and heated debate, the Coeur d’Alene City Council approved a new police chief.
Greg Yeager, the Deputy Chief from Fort Collins, Colorado, has been appointed as the new police chief.
During the city council meeting, Coeur d’Alene Mayor Dan Gookin accused the city attorney of turning his own council against him.
“My opinion is that the city attorney and others have poisoned this council and biased them against me and the police chief,” Mayor Gookin said. “This is ten years of documentation of city attorneys attacking our police chief. That’s what happens to this city and that’s what this vote is really about.”
Mayor Gookin argued he has the power to appoint a new police chief, but city attorney Randy Adams argued he doesn’t due to an Idaho statute.
Adams says the mayor can make an appointment, but the council has to approve it.
“You did ask me last week about Idaho Code 50-204 and whether that supported your appointment of a police chief,” Adams told Gookin during the meeting. “I provided you with a detailed analysis and my conclusion was that section 50-204 does not give the mayor the power to appoint the police chief.”
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