BOISE -- A panel that oversees the Idaho governor's mansion has approved a budget for the next fiscal year after a previous vote held over email was found in violation of state law.
The Governor's Housing Committee voted Tuesday for a $177,400 budget to cover landscaping, mowing and watering at the expansive hilltop property. The vote was contingent on the panel holding a public hearing in September to garner input on future plans for the long-empty mansion.
The committee met in Boise after one of its Democratic members complained the email vote violated Idaho's open meeting law because the public wasn't given adequate notice.
Sen. Les Bock worried the unpublicized vote would take the spotlight off the home he wants to dispose of, because it's quickly draining a fund to maintain it.
