The city’s Board of Ethics will reconvene Monday to hold a hearing on one of two complaints on its plate.

In May, the ethics board, an appointed committee that weighs complaints against city officials, received a handful of complaints — the first it had fielded in more than a decade. It outright dismissed all but two: a portion of a multi-part complaint against Stacey Brown, a city councilor representing Ward Five, and one against Greg Bakos, the chair of the city’s transportation policy advisory committee. At 9:30 a.m. Monday, the ethics board will hold a hearing for Bakos, while a hearing for Brown hasn’t been scheduled yet. 

While members of the ethics board have indicated they don’t feel Bakos acted improperly, the complaint against him raises questions about conflicts of interest on the city’s many volunteer committees that members wanted to evaluate further via a hearing.

Last year, City Council appropriated $200,000 for a study looking into the idea of adding an elevated park above the interstate as a deck or bridge. Bakos, in addition to being the chair of the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee — often referred to as TPAC — is also managing the project for VHB, the firm contracted on that study.

City code gives the committee a broad mission to assist the council with the development of transportation-related policy, plans and projects. Bakos was named chair at the start of this year, after the city had contracted VHB, though he’s had a seat on the committee since 2018. In January, he proposed including the park study on TPAC’s agenda as one of its discussion items and, at a later meeting, summarized the status of the study and recent input from a public listening session. The resident who filed the complaint against him, Allan Herschlag, found that ethically questionable.

Bakos, in a written filing to the ethics board, argued that there was no conflict of interest because he hadn’t proposed or enacted anything that would directly benefit him. While several ethics board members, most of whom are lawyers, agreed with that reasoning, they also wondered whether it was appropriate for someone employed by a company contracting with the city to be on a committee that gives advice to city council. It’s a question that with relevance beyond Bakos’ case.

At ethics board hearings, both the person who filed the complaint and the city official — or their lawyer — will get to offer evidence or witnesses to help make their case to the board. They also can ask questions of each other. After holding a hearing, the board has 30 days to make a recommendation to City Council.

The board doesn’t take action, only makes a recommendation to the City Council. 

The complaint against Brown hinges on a vote she took, unanimously with other   councilors, to approve a  street closure for a local business’ event. City staff recommended that a police detail be provided as well. Brown’s husband is a city police officer, and whether and when she needs to recuse herself from council votes has been a point of contention in both her two terms. The hearing on that complaint will happen at a later date.