Fire commissioner is readying for court battle
By Eric Valentine
The forthcoming lawsuit that had been described as a friendly option for resolving the one-vote difference that stands between the Ketchum Rural Fire District’s two candidates for one more open commissioner’s seat may be significantly more contentious than that.
Incumbent commissioner Jed Gray—who, as of now, is the re-elected commissioner by beating Gray Ottley by a single vote in the November election—said before he left the country earlier this month, he had met with Ottley and it seemed he was all but ready to concede.
“I was totally shell-shocked and blindsided by this,” Gray said. “I still haven’t been summoned (for the lawsuit), but my response is ready and I’m going to wait until then to say any more.”
A judge will now determine if there is enough evidence to have the court weigh in. And the judge would have options, Gray explained. He could let the election stand, he could call in the six people who received the wrong ballots from the county during the early election period and let them vote, or the judge could call for a new election.
“The county acknowledged there were anomalies, so any of those things could happen,” Gray said.
Campaigning is now over, but Gray made it clear an Ottley victory could be problematic for the district. Ottley is a firefighter for the City of Ketchum, which means he’d be in a position to recuse himself from certain voting due to potential conflicts of interest. For instance, voting on anything having to do with the consolidation of the Valley’s first-responder services.
“If he recused himself, that would lead to situations with only two commissioners voting, so voting on certain issues could end up in ties,” Gray said.