Another Ethics Complaint Filed

A local state representative has filed a third ethics complaint alleging that a sitting city councilor, who is about to be investigated by the newly named Board of Ethics, should not have voted to approve the members of the board.

State Rep. , D-Concord, filed the complaint with the City Clerk’s Office on May 25, against at-large City Councilor , based on a May 14, meeting and vote where members of the Board of Ethics were named.

Five members of the board were nominated. Concord Mayor nominated three members and City Manager nominated two. The five nominees were placed on the consent agenda for the evening, to be approved by a voice vote of the entire agenda.

However, after Watrous filed a complaint challenging whether it was a conflict of interest for Bouley to nominate people to a board that would soon be investigating him, Bouley pulled his nominations from the consent agenda. Citing the complaint, Bouley said he would not vote on the nominees, who were all later approved by the rest of the council.

St. Hilaire, who also serves as an executive councilor, voted for the nominees. Both Bouley and St. Hilaire also voted to approve the consent agenda that included Aspell’s nominees.

In the complaint, Watrous wrote that the vote by St. Hilaire appeared to be a violation of the city ordinance regarding conflicts of interest, since he was voting to approve members of a board that would soon be investigating charges against him.

Watrous said it was disappointing that St. Hilaire, who is also an attorney, seemed to ignore the obvious conflict.

"Even after Mayor Bouley abstained from this vote on the ethics board appointments, Councilor St. Hilaire voted,” he said. “It's disappointing to see that St. Hilaire, the (chairman) of the city rules committee, doesn't seem to recognize what a conflict of interest is."

St. Hilaire did not return an email request for comment.

This complaint is the third lodged by Watrous to the board.

The first stated that Bouley failed to appoint a Board of Ethics to review the matter; that Bouley and St. Hilaire failed to disclose personal financial or other interests in matters that came before them; that they both failed to hold a public hearing in the bodies that they presided over, as required by the city’s ethics ordinance; and claimed that their actions and remarks concerning Patten were inconsistent with their previous actions.

The second challenged whether it was a conflict for Bouley to make nominations to a board that will investigate charges against him.

Although the Board of Ethics was named nearly two weeks ago, its first meeting has not been scheduled yet, according City Clerk . However, she stated in an email that the first meeting of the board would soon be finalized and posted online.

Watrous’ full complaint is posted below:

May 25, 2012

Concord City Council & Board of Ethics

Concord City Hall

41 Green St.

Concord NH, 03301

SUBJECT: Ethics Complaint against Councilor Dan St. Hilaire

Dear City Council and Board of Ethics:

I am filing this complaint because Councilor Dan St. Hilaire appears to have violated the city Code of Ethics:

At the May 14 city council meeting Councilor St. Hilaire voted on appointments to the ethics board.  As the ethics board was being appointed at this time to hear complaints against St. Hilaire (and Mayor Bouley) this decision making vote would appear to be a conflict of interest and in violation of Article 1-6-2 of the Code of Ethics.

Article 1-6-2 of the Code of Ethics states, in part:

Officers and officials, whether appointed or elected, shall act in the best interest of the City. They shall disclose any personal financial or other interests in matters that come before them for action and shall remove themselves from decision making if they have a conflict of interest.

Article 1-6-3 Definitions states:

Conflict of Interest. A conflict of interest is defined as an actual conflict of interest when a person takes an action or makes a decision that would affect his or her financial interests, business, or those of a family member. An apparent conflict of interest is one that does not affect a person's financial interests, but does call into question his or her objectivity and independence.

At the May 14 council meeting Mayor Bouley correctly abstained from voting on the ethics board appointments that had been pulled off the consent agenda. Yet shortly after the mayor explained why he was abstaining, Councilor St. Hilaire voted on the ethics board appointees, who are being tasked to hear complaints against the mayor and St. Hilaire. This decision making vote, over a board which St. Hilaire knew would rule on a complaint against himself, appears to be prohibited by city ordinance concerning such conflict of interest actions.

Yours truly,

Rick Watrous

9 Wilson Ave

Concord, NH 03301