Ravalli County Institutes Official Search to Serve Valerie Stamey With Lawsuit

Ravalli County officials will consider hiring a professional process server to find disgraced former county treasurer Valerie Stamey so she can be officially served with a lawsuit.

County Commission Chairman Jeff Burrows said the time has come to bring the entire episode with Stamey to a close.

"We had the suit filed for misconduct in that office," Burrows said. "It was for $29,000, the statutory requirement for lack of performance. We went ahead and filed the suit, and just because of timing issues, we let everything settle out. After the election (of new treasurer Dan Whitesitt), we haven't been able to serve her. We've followed up on a couple of leads but those have been unsuccessful."

Burrows said the commission must now move forward to hire a professional to locate Ms. Stamey.

"We've got a meeting tomorrow to consider hiring a professional process server to go find her and serve her with this suit," he said. "We've tasked the sheriff and county attorney to serve her in the past, but they have so much other important business, so at this point we're just looking at options."

Burrows said the commissioners have learned valuable lessons in the hiring of Valerie Stamey and all that happened afterward.

"We've implemented new hiring policies and procedures for more stringent background checks," Burrows said. "Especially for those with fiduciary responsibilities here at the county. We hope that everybody's honest, but unfortunately, there's people out there that misrepresent themselves, and as you follow the history of this lady, you discover that's basically what she did for a living."

Stamey's whereabouts are still unknown to Ravalli County officials.