Neither Greg Earls nor Tom O’Brien attended a conflict of interest seminar I organized last December. In fact, none of the re-elected incumbent City Council members attended. The new folks from both the council and the School Committee showed up: Ed Cameron, Nick deKanter, Kathleen O’Connor Ives, and Stephanie Weaver for sure; I don’t remember if Brian Derrivan was there.
My point in bringing up a 4-month-old public meeting that was led by a municipal education specialist with the state Ethics Commission revolves around something that occurred at tonight’s City Council meeting.
Or, rather, something that did not occur.
Twice.
This story begins with Earls, who requested Communication #2 be removed from the consent agenda. So moved, so seconded, so approved. During subsequent deliberations, Earls said a relative worked at Oregano Pizzeria so he felt it worthy to recuse himself from the vote.
Nice man, recusing himself.
But if he understood the conflict of interest law, he’d recognize that the law involves not just individual statements but the appearance as well. He should have stood and left the room during any possible deliberation and vote. He did neither, and while there was no deliberation, there was a vote when he said, “present,” as if that excuses his remaining in the room.
At least he didn’t deliberate, something that former City Councillor Audrey McCarthy constantly did on issues involving the police department despite her husband’s employment in the department.
But back to the present. Earls was the first conflict.
During a different part of the meeting, while the council debated approving re-appointments for the director and deputy director of the Department of Public Services to be special police officers, O’Brien wondered aloud whether Andrew Lafferty, the fairly-new deputy director of the department, ought to be re-appointed or merely appointed as it’s his first employment in the city.
Fair enough question, but as O’Brien’s daughter works for the department, there is a clear conflict there. He should have said nothing. Steve Hutcheson sat next to him, so all O’Brien had to do was scribble a note and Hutcheson could have made the comment.
But it’s not all bad news: Toward the end of the meeting, Earls deserves credit for asking councillors to email him questions about some issue but stressed they should not engage in commentary or discussions in email; just questions.
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Ari Herzog is an online media strategist and Newburyport City Councilor-Elect.
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