Gookin alleges city attorney, council worked against him in chief fight

Mayor Dan Gookin said an April 16 email from City Attorney Randy Adams to Council President Amy Evans and Councilman Dan Sheckler proved City Hall was working behind his back during the police chief selection, turning an already bitter appointment fight into a broader question of who really controls city leadership in Coeur d’Alene.

The dispute centers on whether Adams and council members coordinated against Gookin as the city decided between interim chief Dave Hagar and Greg Yeager, the deputy chief for the Fort Collins Police Department in Colorado. Gookin has argued Adams was undermining his authority and said he continued to pursue Adams’ removal or resignation because he believed the attorney was not acting in the city’s best interest.

The legal fight sits on top of a transition year at City Hall. Gookin was sworn in on January 18 and had already described 2026 as a year when the city would need to fill key posts, including city administrator, fire chief, police chief and parks director, while also filling a vacant council seat. In February, the council approved former Post Falls Mayor Ron Jacobson as interim city administrator in a 4-2 vote, with Evans and Kiki Miller dissenting over budget concerns. Jacobson’s interim contract was set to run until July.

That arrangement mattered because city appointments are generally made by the city administrator, but Jacobson’s contract required council approval or denial of appointments. Adams said that structure meant Gookin did not have authority to appoint Hagar, while the mayor said the process was being used to sideline him.

The council’s April 22 vote to approve Yeager by 4-2 only deepened the split. The meeting drew public outcry and a walkout by community members and police officers who supported Hagar. A prior tie vote had already shown how divided the council was before the final decision.

The stakes were high inside the police department as well. In the April 21 council minutes, Hagar said serious Part One crimes were down 23.74% last year and down 76.20% since 2014, a drop he said represented roughly 1,600 fewer victims each year than a decade ago. The recruitment flyer for the chief post said the department was operating on a 2026 budget of about $22 million, with 123 full-time employees, including 99 sworn officers, and a salary range of $127,732 to $179,753.

Councilmember Kiki Miller said she was surprised by the accusations, while Christie Wood briefly raised the possibility of future reviews of Adams and Evans before backing away from that request. Yeager, who later said he wanted to lead collaboratively as he prepared to move to Coeur d’Alene, now takes over a department whose leadership choice has exposed a raw fight over transparency, charter authority and trust at City Hall.