Cochise County Board of Supervisor, Tom Crosby and newly seated supervisors Frank Antenori and Kathleen Gomez held a special meeting Monday, January 6 to discuss a possible direction regarding Cochise County’s Petition for Review before the Arizona Supreme Court in the matter of Daniel LaChance, et al., v Cochise County, et. al., CV-24-0150-PR.
The BOS meet and voted to go into executive session, and when they returned in open session Antenori made a motion to terminate legal representation with the Sherman & Howard law firm who had been representing the county in the jail tax appeal lawsuit filed by Daniel LaChance and several others who claimed the county had disenfranchised approximately 11,000 voters on the inactive list by failing to send them ballots in the May 2023 special election, in which Cochise County voters approved the jail district’s creation, and sales tax increase to support the building of a new facility.
After approving the termination, the board again went back into executive session and then came back and voted to approve hiring attorney Timothy La Sota to represent them in the case. La Sota had previously represented the county and the BOS in the case with the Arizona Attorney General regarding the BOS approval to appoint County Recorder David Stevens as interim election director. A case which was decided in the county’s favor……read full story (online subscribers only)