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Putnam Valley Ethics Law Once Again Center of Controversy
by Edward Paul Greiff
On November 29, 2006 Putnam Valley Supervisor Sam Davis wrote a letter to the Putnam Valley Ethics Board stating, “As I work toward the reorganization meeting in January there are a number of issues that arose regarding the new ethics law. I would appreciate your confidential review of these personnel matters.”
Supervisor Davis then listed in his letter the names of individuals employed by the Town and their personal scenarios that he felt had the potential for the appearance of impropriety. Those scenarios included family members and relatives working together for the Town and being in a position to influence Town decisions, contracts and project approvals.
Mr. Davis concluded his letter by saying, “Many of the seasonal employees are related to other employees. Many of them obtain their employment because of those relationships. Related employees supervise some of those employees. Can you advise me as to whether any of them present a conflict of interest?”
According to Supervisor Davis he wanted his letter kept confidential and the opinion of the Ethics Board was also to be kept confidential.
The Ethics Board apparently felt they needed to obtain additional information and made the decision to send a letter to each of the individuals named in Supervisor Davis’ letter, requesting their appearance before the Ethics Board. This infuriated some of the recipients of the Ethics Board letter and accusations began flying, calling the letter a “political witch-hunt.”
The individual outcry quickly spread and focused on Supervisor Davis. Nine days after issuing his first letter, Davis sent a second letter to the Board of Ethics and specifically to its Chairman, Clem Van Ross. Davis wrote in his second letter, “Because the confidential nature of my inquiry has been breached I am withdrawing my request for an advisory opinion. I was advised that I could, and should, seek a confidential opinion from your Board.”
Mr. Davis went on in his letter to explain that due to the nature of a town the size of Putnam Valley, hiring of relatives is inevitable. “Unfortunately,” he wrote, “we have no viable means to address the concerns of residents.”
He then wrote, “It is widely known that you [the Board of Ethics] have distributed letters to Town Hall employees and the identity of those employees is also known. I asked for a confidential opinion as to whether or not any of these issues required investigation under the new ethics law and attempted to clarify my request verbally to Bishop Bondi [a member of the Board of Ethics]. I am not seeking to increase the discomfort of Town Hall employees or to create a more hostile work environment than has already been created by the Town Board. Confidentiality remains a problem with your Board. Perhaps we can meet to discuss this issue.”
Davis told the PCN&R that the Ethics Board is not honoring the withdrawal request he made in his second letter and is continuing their investigation. There are currently 4 citizens serving on the Ethics Board, all of whom were appointed in 2003 by the previous Town Board under Supervisor Carmelo Santos. In addition to Van Ross and Bondi, the other two members of the Board are Kay Nathanson and Michael Cicale.
The Putnam Valley Town Board adopted their new Code of Ethics Law on October 11, 2006 responding to the public wish to have some “teeth in it.”
The implication of an ethics law with “teeth in it” is to discourage individuals with unethical intentions before they have a chance to do any damage. Along the lines of this proactive approach to ethics is the Ethics Board encouragement for individuals to seek their opinion before engaging in an activity they think may have ethical considerations they are not sure of.
The “teeth” in the new law are warnings, reprimands, suspensions, removal from office or employment, or other disciplinary actions, including a civil penalty up to $1,000.
At the time of adoption of the new penalties section, Marie Zarcone thanked the Ethics Board for doing a thorough job in preparing the law and addressed the Town Board by saying if they adopted the law then they have to follow it, to the letter of the law.
Chairman Van Ross explained the purpose of the revised code was to establish standards and guidelines for ethical conduct of the Town’s officers and employees. “The establishment of standards is another step toward providing the highest caliber of public administration for the Town and ensuring that government decisions are arrived at impartially and free of conflict of interest; thereby increasing confidence in public officials.”
Supervisor Davis also commented to the PCN&R that the Town Board has been advertising for volunteers for all of the Town’s boards and committees and so far have received no applications. He blames the lack of response on public fear of the new Ethics law and thinks the law needs revision. Others blame the lack of response on politics while others say they don’t want to work for Davis. From any viewpoint taken the Ethics law is once again the center of controversy.
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