Hawkins seeks meeting on mall proposal

Whitman County commissioners will meet with Hawkins development representatives within the next few weeks to discuss the contract between the company and the county.

Administrative Director Gary Petrovich told commissioners Monday morning during a workshop that Hawkins’ Jeff DeVoe requested the meeting to see “what’s do-able and what isn’t.”

Petrovich said that DeVoe wants feedback from commissioners about how they will go forward with the project. He said he will schedule a meeting either toward the end of this month or the beginning of February.

“We have $9.1 million obligated to the project still in the contract,” said Commissioner Michael Largent. “This board’s perspective is different from the last board’s but we still have a contract.”

The Boise-based Hawkins Company has proposed a 714,000-square-foot shopping center on Highway 270 at the Idaho state line.

Reaction to a revision which added $6 million to the original agreement was believed to be the reason two incumbent commissioners, Greg Partch and Pat O’Neill, lost to challengers in the 2012 election.

Largent did not vote for the revision.

The $6 million amendment to the original contract expires Jan. 30, Largent said.

The county’s portion would pay for the infrastructure at the strip mall.

“We obviously don’t have that kind of money on hand,” Petrovich said. The county would have to do a bond and borrow the money for the project.

Petrovich said that the Hawkins Company is still hopeful about the development. The company is pursuing all angles including contacting possible tenants, he said.

“They haven’t had time with the new commissioners, and they want to discuss state law and how the county could pay back a loan,” he said.

In other states, tax increment finance is available to counties which seek loans and then pay the loan back with revenue from a development.

Largent said Monday that the project has the potential for a significant benefit to the county.

Largent was named in November 2012 to head a committee to negotiate an amendment to the original contract.

The committee also includes county Public Works Director Mark Storey, Prosecutor Denis Tracy and Petrovich.

The county faced an injunction suit filed by the grass-roots based Organization to Void Illegal Conduct in Superior Court.

Hawkins proposed changes to the January 2012 deal. The January agreement increased the county’s obligation to pay for infrastructure construction at the shopping center site to $15 million. The county and the Hawkins Company agreed to a $9 million infrastructure contract in 2008.

Largent said at the time that he would not make decisions in the negotiations with Hawkins, but would relay messages between Hawkins and the commissioners.

Although negotiations continued through the summer of 2012 between Hawkins and special attorneys hired by the county, they eventually lapsed because of the OVIC suit.

Pullman attorney Tim Esser, who represented the OVIC group, filed a motion in Whitman County Superior Court asking the court to rule that the agreements between the county and Hawkins were void because Hawkins was not a registered contractor with the state and that the county may not have a contract with an unregistered contractor. A court date was set at the time but no action was taken.