INKOM — It’s apparently not good enough that the Montgomery family cut down a 20-year-old tree they planted in their front yard and agreed to pay $300 for the city of Inkom’s attorney fees in the matter.
The city is still pursuing legal action against the family.
The city’s negotiations with Tracie Montgomery and her husband, Gerrad, over how much the family should reimburse the city for legal expenses associated with the city’s lawsuit forcing the tree’s removal stalled this week, the family said.
The city of Inkom filed a lawsuit in August 2018 ordering the family to cut down the evergreen because it was allegedly in the city’s right of way along Rapid Creek Road. The family eventually complied but the controversy is not over.
In response to the stalled negotiations over the family paying the city’s legal costs, the city refiled a motion asking the judge assigned to the case to rule in its favor without a trial.
If Inkom receives a favorable ruling on the motion, the city could charge the Montgomery family the full amount of any incurred city attorney fees, damages the tree may have caused Inkom and what it will cost the city to remove the tree stump.
The final amount could be thousands of dollars, the Montgomerys said.
But it seems the city making an issue of the tree stump has caused the family to say enough is enough. The Montgomerys have hired an attorney and plan to mount a serious legal challenge to the city’s motion and let the courts decide.
“First they say cut it down and we are good, so, fine, we do,” Tracie Montgomery said. “Now they want the trunk and the roots removed. Once we do that, are they going to change their mind again and want us to do something else? It’s like they don’t want this to ever end.”
The city said that the tree is a nuisance and has not been fully abated because the Montgomery family failed to remove the stump and attached root structure.
“Had the tree been removed when the lawsuit for nuisance was filed back in August, or even when the Montgomerys first agreed and promised to remove the tree, the obstruction could have been removed clear down to the roots and the roots could have been treated to terminate further invasion,” Inkom’s city attorney, Kent Higgins of Pocatello, wrote in a brief supporting the city’s recent motion. “The obstruction is not yet completely removed. The nuisance is not yet completely abated.”
According to Tracie Montgomery, the evergreen controversy first began in early August 2017 when Higgins sent her a letter requesting she remove the Norway spruce tree that she planted outside her Rapid Creek Road home when she and her husband moved into the property about 20 years ago.
Inkom Mayor Joel Jolley says that over the last 20 years the Montgomerys have been asked several times by himself or other city personnel to remove the tree, according to court records. Further, Jolley said the tree is an obstruction located in the right-of-way on Rapid Creek Road and that the roots of the tree currently interfere with access to the utility easements beneath the tree and that the roots pose a threat to those utilities, according to court records.
Jolley did not respond to multiple requests from the Journal for comment about the evergreen controversy.
After several months of communicating back and forth, Higgins told Tracie Montgomery in a December 2017 letter that she had until April 15, 2018, to remove the tree from her property. That was the last communication from Inkom officials before the Montgomerys were sued by the city. The city sued the family for up to $35,000 because the tree had not been removed, Tracie Montgomery said.
Tracie Montgomery said that if the city was truly concerned about the tree damaging utility lines, the city would have cut it down immediately and sent her the bill.
Higgins told the Journal this week that the city had that right, but in an attempt to be cordial and utilize the proper process, the city opted to get the courts involved.
“I think that the city could have removed the tree and charged the Montgomerys what it cost,” Higgins said. “But my advice and my approach is always to say let’s have the court decide what is right. But yes, the city is in the right to remove trees that are in the right-of-way.”
Tracie Montgomery said the tree ordeal was rejuvenated at the beginning of last year after she publicly criticized Jolley for not enforcing the posted speed limit of 25 mph on Rapid Creek Road in a January 2018 letter to the editor that she sent to local newspapers, including the Journal.
“There was a little finger-pointing at the mayor but the mayor doesn’t make these decisions,” Higgins said. “The Montgomerys seem to think this was the mayor’s doing, but this was an Inkom City Council decision.”
Inkom City Council President Paul Lish did not return multiple requests from the Journal for comment regarding the tree.
Another reason why the Montgomerys feel personally targeted by the city is because there are several trees and shrubs, some located on Inkom city property, that are not only in street right-of-ways but also extend over sidewalks, Tracie Montgomery said.
The city refutes her claim.
“As best as I can recall in discussions with city officials there are no other trees that are imposing right-of-ways,” Higgins said.
After cutting down her tree and offering to pay $300 toward the city’s attorney fees related to the tree, only to see Inkom now take issue with the stump left behind, Tracie Montgomery said her family now plans to continue fighting what they’re calling a case of governmental overreach.
A hearing on the city’s recent motion that could force the family to pay up has been scheduled for March 4 at the Bannock County Courthouse in Pocatello.
“This is ridiculous,” Tracie Montgomery said. “I’ve had to hire an attorney from out of town and because of that we plan to mount an aggressive defense. We’re going to fight this.”
