It is amazing how great the property looks---even with a pile of rubble still sitting on the ground.
I get really excited when I think of the potential that now exists for making a beautiful gateway to our lovely municipal complex area.
My last blog posting.I heard from a long-time reader that my discussion in my last blog about Finance Director Anthony Ianiro’s “Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form” was a bit confusing.
I always appreciate getting feed-back like that. Thank-you!
Let me try again:
Item Four: Ethics/Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form
Status: Quiet Rebellion?
Financial disclosure is a critical part of state and local ethics law. As explained by the Ohio Ethics Commission (OEC):
"The purposes of the financial disclosure requirement are to remind public officials of financial interests that may conflict with their duties and to assist citizens and the three ethics agencies in monitoring the areas of potential conflict of interest of public officials. Public disclosure serves as a deterrent to public officials considering activity that may result in a conflict."According to the OEC, financial disclosure requirements serve several specific purposes:
"In an era of rapid communication and broader awareness of use of tax dollars, it is useful for taxpayers, and all citizens, to be aware of safeguards Ohio's Law affords the public. It is also important to know that differences may exist between a variety of permissible private sector practices (like exchanges of gifts or business incentives or family favoritism) in contrast to the expectation of Ohio Law that there be no personal conflict when public monies are expended."
- Remind public officials of those financial interests that might impair their judgment on behalf of the public;
- Inform the public of those interests; and
- Assist in instilling confidence in the actions of public officials.
Council has been anxious to address the issue of financial Disclosure since being blind-sided and learning that former Park & Recreation Commission Chair Tony Valentino’s company acted as the city’s exclusive HVAC service provider for three years beginning in May 2006---an arrangement that Mayor Scott Coleman approved of, but that council was unaware of.
Not only did Valentino’s doing business with the city raise serious ethical questions, it also violated city financial laws.
HHts Ordinance § 117.04(b) requires that Council officially approve business dealings between the city and any elected or appointed city official before any business transactions take place. That law was violated in Tony Valentino's case. Not only did Council not pre-approve the hiring of W.F. Hann & Sons, as required by § 117.04(b), it didn’t even know that Valentino had a business interest in that company or that the company was doing business with the city.
The Valentino situation raised a huge red flag with regard to the city’s financial controls. In addition to referring the Valentino matter to the OEC, Council responded by asking Finance Director Tony Ianiro to come up with a public disclosure of financial interests form, to be filled out by everyone covered by state ethics laws.
L&F has been waiting since July to receive a draft of that disclosure form from Ianiro, for discussion and review.
For whatever reason, the idea of financial disclosure seems to make the Finance Director nervous.
Rather than providing L&F with a draft form to discuss, Ianiro apparently decided to end-run Council on the issue. Displaying his trademark prickliness, Ianiro informed an astonished L&F on Tuesday night that he had already begun distributing what he titled a “Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form”---a Form that he chose not to share or discuss with L&F beforehand and which he insisted should be returned directly to him, rather than to the Clerk of Council---thereby keeping the disclosed information from Council.
Ianiro’s decision to bypass Council is disturbing enough, but his supposed disclosure Form is even more troubling. L&F members expressed several significant concerns about the Form. Among them:
- Issue One. Ianiro decided that only elected and appointed city officials should be required to fill out his disclosure Form---even though state and local ethics laws apply to both city employees and city officials.
- Issue Two. Ianiro’s Form is extremely limited in scope—much too limit to serve its intended purpose.
Inairo does not require city officials to disclose all of their significant business interests upfront. He only requires them (as of the date the Form is filled out) to disclose business interests and/or affiliations with persons or entities that are “currently transacting or may enter into a transaction with the city.”
Basically no financial information has to be disclosed unless: 1) an official is already doing business with the city; or 2) the official thinks, at the time he or she signs the form, that they “may” do business with the city at some time in the future.
How is an official supposed to know if they “may” do business with the city? Who knows. That disclosure requirement is based entirely upon an official’s self-prediction about the future. There is no requirement that the prediction be right. Obviously this amounts to a huge loophole. All an official has to say--to justify nondisclosure--is that they didn’t think that they might be doing business with the city when they filled out the form--and they are off the hook.
It is clear that Ianiro’s Form simply doesn’t do the job Council intended it to do. Still not convinced? Think of the Valentino situation.
W.F. Hann & Sons’ first invoice was processed by the city on May 31, 2006. That means that Valentino’s business dealings with the city began in or around May 2006.
If he had received Ianiro’s Form to fill out in January 2006, after P&R Commission appointments were made, Valentino would have stated that he had absolutely nothing to disclose—he would not have been required to disclose his business interests in W.F. Hann & Sons because the company had not yet begun doing business with the city, and Valentino could claim that he did not anticipate that his company would start doing business with the city five months later.Valentino’s first disclosure of his business interest, therefore, would not have occurred until January 2007, when he filled out Ianiro’s disclosure Form again, for the next year. By that time the disclosure of his business interests would come too late---W.F. Hann & Sons would already have been doing business with the city (without the required pre-approval by Council) for seven months. - Issue Three. Ianiro’s Form does not require that officials make additional disclosures each time their financial situation changes. The cover letter that Ianiro wrote to accompany his Form states: “Should any situation change for you, you may of course complete another form.”
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows there’s a huge difference between “may” and “must.” The “may of course” language takes the disclosure obligation even further away from a requirement.
Mayor Scott Coleman, who attended the L&F meeting, kept quiet and expressed no concerns about or dissatisfaction with Ianiro’s disclosure Form.
Finance Director Tony Ianiro’s “Conflict of Interest Disclosure Form” has nothing to do with real disclosure, transparency or honest and open government. It amounts to little more than a false show of concern for our city’s ethics and finance laws. It certainly doesn’t reflect any real commitment on the part of either Mayor Coleman or Finance Director Ianiro to improve the city’s financial controls. It appears to be nothing more than a smoke and mirrors cover for conducting business as usual.And so it goes. ...
