Councilman Crawford’s letter of complaint to the City’s Ethics Board Secretary

On October 21, 2015, Fort Wayne City Councilman John Crawford (R-At-Large), submitted a letter of complaint to the City’s Ethics Board Secretary regarding, “…Ethics violations by City Clerk office employees.”

Text of the complaint letter sent to City of Fort Wayne Corporation Counsel Tim Haffner:

October 21, 2015

Tim Haffner, Corporation Counsel
Secretary of the Ethics Board

RE: Complaint of Ethics violations by City Clerk office employees
Via: Hand Delivery and Electronic Mail in C/O Carol Helton, City Attorney

Dear Secretary Haffner,

I, John N. Crawford, President of the Fort Wayne City Council, a City Entity, hereby submit this letter as a formal complaint to the city’s Ethics Board with respect to probable violations of the city’s Ethics Code made by City of Fort Wayne employees within the City Clerk’s Office.

The Municipal Code of Ethics, established by Executive Order 01-01, in January 2001, the purpose of which is to “establish(es) ethical standards of conduct for all covered individuals, to set forth certain activities which are incompatible with such standards, to require certain disclosure of private financial or other interest in matters affecting the City or the discharge of public duties, and to provide for the enforcement and sanctions for violation of this Code”.

The complaint centers on the alleged violation of Section 3.08 Political Activity based on publicly released undercover video showing employees in the City Clerk’s office clearly violating Section 3.08 on several points—solicit, receive or give contributions or political support services for a candidate. No covered individual shall at any time in any manner coerce, or attempt to coerce, contributions for service from subordinate employees in support of a political party or candidate for public office, or any referendum position, or retaliate against, or reward, any employee for any political action or inaction. Let it be noted that Section 36.02 of Chapter 36: Personnel Policies in the Fort Wayne Municipal Code of Ordinances was also breached.

Persons in violation of this unethical behavior are the current Deputy Clerk, Angela Davis and the current Violations Bureau Supervisor, Patricia Stalhut. I would request of the Ethics Board to interview former Parking Control Manager, Colin Keeney, and review the videos to decide if other employees of the City Clerk’s office or Parking Control administration should be evaluated for ethics violations, as well.

I request that the Ethics Board investigate these violations and take immediate actions to make determinations in the complaint.

Respectfully Submitted,

John N. Crawford, President
Fort Wayne Common Council

Section 4 of the The Municipal Code of Ethics lays out how Secretary Haffner and the Board of Ethics will proceed.

The current members of the Ethics Board are: Dawn Moore, Robin Newman, and Justin Shurley.

Related Images: