BOISE, Idaho — Former Boise City Council member Lisa Sánchez has filed a lawsuit against the City of Boise over the loss of the seat on the council.
Sánchez claims she inadvertently moved out of her district while the city was being redistricted.
"There is no public record of who made the decision to remove Plaintiff Sánchez from the Boise City Council, when that decision was made, or why that decision was made," the suit states.
The suit also includes a quote from Councilmember Jimmy Hallyburton in a Feb. 3, 2023, article in BoiseDev, saying that the council was "given a legal determination based on State Code that Lisa had vacated her seat by moving outside of her district, and we were simply delivering the message."
The suit contains four claims of relief: one, that the city does not have the legal authority to remove Sánchez from her seat; two, that she was deprived of due process when the city removed her; three, that she never, in fact, vacated her seat; and four, that the appointment of any other person to her seat is void.
The suit lays out, from Sánchez's perspective, how she was not given clear communications about her move, that the council and the mayor had, at first, seemed supportive and that she had moved to an apartment that was in District 3 on Jan. 13, 2023.
In the suit, Sánchez requests a judgment that declares the city council had no authority right to remove her, that city removed her without having authority, proper process or procedure, that she did not vacate her seat when she moved to an address that she believed was in District 3 and because of that, her removal was unlawful and a different person appointed to that seat should be removed.
Sánchez also claims that she repeatedly asked for information regarding the authority the city had for removing her and was given none.
"Accordingly, Plaintiff Sánchez is entitled to a declaratory judgment, judgment awarding temporary, preliminary, and permanent injunctive relief, declaratory relief, attorneys’ fees, costs, and any other relief the Court deems just and appropriate," the suit states.
The suit also asks that Sánchez be reimbursed for all legal and court fees regarding this matter. The city has not responded to the suit publicly at the time of this publication.
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