Eagle says a former commission chairman illegally signed contracts. Now the city is suing
The city of Eagle is suing a former commission chairman after it said he illegally signed vendor contracts for an upcoming arts program.
Mark McAllister, the former Eagle Arts Commission chairman, allegedly approved vendor contracts with two media companies for work on a city arts program, without the necessary approval from the Eagle City Council.
The city is seeking repayments from McAllister for the money owed to the vendors — a little over $9,000.
In the lawsuit, filed last week in Ada County Magistrate Court and first reported by BoiseDev, the city said McAllister contracted Elle Phillips Design Inc. for $1,073 and Blue Chip Media LLC for $8,250. The two companies “notified city staff that McAllister entered into contracts with them purporting to act on behalf of the city of Eagle for the Art Stop program,” the city said in the lawsuit.
Eagle city code prohibits the arts commission from entering into contracts without council approval, and the city said it did not authorize McAllister to contract the companies for the program.
In addition to paying the contracts, the city is also asking the court to require McAllister to pay the city’s attorney fees, which are $5,000, it said in the lawsuit.
McAllister did not respond to an Idaho Statesman request for comment.
BoiseDev reported that in a letter to the city, the former Eagle arts commissioners said the contracts were a result of an administrative failure by the city. When asked about the lawsuit during a special City Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Eagle Mayor Jason Pierce said the council could not comment on pending litigation.
Last year the Art Stop program sought to add spoken or sung literary art to Eagle’s collection of public art.
In October, the Eagle City Council dissolved the arts commission, turning the six-member commission into a three-member committee. The new committee would meet less frequently, only “semi-annually,” according to the new ordinance.
After the unanimous decision to dissolve the commission, McAllister asked for an explanation. Pierce said the city staff elected to change the structure of the commission to exercise more control over it.
This story was originally published December 22, 2022 at 1:27 PM.
