Sandpoint council adjourns early after dispute over legal counsel and contract

The Sandpoint City Council on Oct. 1, 2025, adjourned at 5:43 p.m. after several council members left the meeting following a dispute over legal counsel and whether the city had appointed an interim attorney.

Mayor Jeremy Grama presided over the meeting and introduced Will Harrington as a temporary legal service provider; Harrington, Grama said, previously served as interim city attorney in 2019 and brings decades of municipal law experience. Councilman Joe Espiro objected, saying the city—s regular legal counsel had not received a Zoom link and that Harrington had not been appointed by the council. "With all due respect, Mr. Harrington, we didn't appoint you as legal counsel," Espiro said.

Espiro pressed the point further, telling the council: "If I don't feel comfortable moving forward with the meeting without our actual legal counsel, and if we're not gonna have our actual legal counsel, I will walk out." Mayor Grama responded, "Just to clarify, we do have a contract with Mr. Harrington," and also said the contract with Lake City Law for legal services had expired at midnight the prior day.

After additional remarks and the council—s departure from the chambers, the city clerk recommended adjourning the meeting. The clerk said, "Go ahead and adjourn." The mayor declared, "The meeting is adjourned at 05:43PM."

Why it matters: The departures left the council without a quorum and prevented scheduled business from proceeding. The dispute centered on who the city's legal representative should be for the meeting and whether the existing contract with Lake City Law remained in effect. No formal motions on council business were completed after the departures.

Discussion details and next steps: Council members raised concerns about proper appointment and representation under "state code," and one council member said he would leave if the city did not have its regular legal counsel present. The mayor said a contract with Will Harrington existed and noted Harrington's prior interim service to the city. The clerk advised adjourning the meeting once a quorum was no longer present.

The meeting had opened at about 5:30 p.m.; because the council left before scheduled executive-session business, items on the evening's agenda were not considered to completion. The transcript does not record any formal vote on agenda items prior to adjournment.

Provenance (excerpted from the meeting transcript): The initial objections to Harrington's presence begin when Councilman Joe Espiro says, "With all due respect, Mr. Harrington, we didn't appoint you as legal counsel," and escalate through Mayor Grama's replies and the clerk's recommendation to adjourn. The meeting record shows the mayor—s adjournment declaration at 5:43 p.m.

No further public actions or votes are recorded in the transcript after the departures.