Ethics Board Rules Grace Erred in Not Disclosing Tenant Ties
The Yorktown Board of Ethics found that Supervisor Michael Grace should have disclosed he was the landlord of the former town engineer who was awarded a contract last year by the Town Board to study sewer proposals for the Hallocks Mill section of town.
A complaint was filed with the independent Ethics Board on March 20 of last year by former Supervisor Susan Siegel, who was unseated by Grace in 2011. The board interviewed Grace on June 17 and November 13 about the allegations that he violated the town’s Ethics Law by failing to reveal Dan Ciarcia was his tenant or recusing himself from the vote that amounted to a $10,880 job for Ciarcia.
On December 12, the Board of Ethics issued a determination stating Grace should have publicly acknowledged his landlord/tenant relationship with Ciarcia even though he maintained it was already public knowledge.
“The relationship between Mr. Grace (as landlord) and Mr. Ciarcia (as tenant) presents the appearance of impropriety and therefore Mr. Grace should have disclosed this relationship prior to his vote on the project,” the Ethics Board stated. “The fact that there was a perceived public knowledge concerning this potential conflict of interest should not excuse the duty to disclose such a conflict.”
While the Ethics Board recommended no further action be taken by the rest of the Town Board against Grace, the Ethics Board suggested training be required for all town employees and officials to “better understand their obligations” under the town’s Code of Ethics.
Grace did not respond to an email seeking comment about the Ethics Board’s decision, but Siegel maintained the board’s decision to hire Ciarcia for the study also violated the town’s Procurement Policy which required the town to advertise a Request for Proposals for the sewer study.
“The Ethics Board’s findings reaffirm the importance of the full public disclosure requirements incorporated into the Ethics Law adopted in 2010,” Siegel said. “Without full disclosure, there is no way for the public to know if there is, or might be, a conflict of interest, or, as the Ethics Board found in the Grace/Ciarcia complaint, the appearance of impropriety.”
Siegel also called on the Ethics Board to propose an amendment to the Code of Ethics giving it the authority to make its findings public, instead of having to rely on the Town Board to choose if it wants to disclose that information.
“As the law is currently written, only the Town Board can make the Ethics Board’s findings public and that effectively undermines the purpose of having an independent Ethics Board,” Siegel said.
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