Flint not bound by ethics policy

Spokane’s outgoing public works and utilities director Roger Flint is under no obligation to comply with the city’s new ethics policy because his employment contract with the city was reached prior to the City Council’s adoption of the ethics policy last January, Mayor Dennis Hession said Thursday.

The mayor called Flint an honest and ethical public employee who has been the target of unfair and irresponsible “character assassination.”

“The city’s new ethics code doesn’t apply to Flint because his employment contract predated the adoption of the code and his contract did not contain the same provisions,” Hession said in a prepared statement.

Hession, who was reached while traveling out of town on family matters Thursday, said that assessment is based on an opinion from the city attorney’s office.

Given the nature of the legal opinion, it was not immediately clear how many city employees actually fall under the new ethics policy.

The mayor’s statement follows an announcement by Flint two weeks ago that he is leaving City Hall to take a job with CH2M Hill, an international engineering firm holding more than $4 million in public works contracts with the city. Flint has worked as a manager overseeing CH2M Hill contracts, including one involving upgrades and improvements to Spokane’s wastewater treatment plant.

The city’s new ethics policy prohibits former city employees from engaging in business for one year in any matters or actions that they had been involved in while on the city payroll. The idea is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, as well as prevent inflated bids or behind-the-scenes deals.

Flint said he notified Hession about the potential conflict before taking the job, but initially did not believe he would have to step away from working on Spokane city contracts in his new position as Spokane area manager and vice president for CH2M Hill. He said he asked for a legal opinion from the city attorney. Subsequently, Flint said that he would not oversee work on those contracts for the one-year hands-off period.

Earlier this week, the Center for Justice in Spokane on behalf of the Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane County submitted a complaint to the city outlining at least three alleged violations of the ethics code by Flint, including discussing a potential job with CH2M Hill while working as a city official.

Hession said, “The man has been maligned by assuming at some point in the future he will violate the city’s new code of ethics. Roger Flint has worked for this city for 20 years and has always exemplified the very standards of responsibility, trustworthiness, integrity, truthfulness, honesty and fairness articulated in the city’s Code of Ethics.”

Hession pointed out that Flint “doesn’t directly oversee any contracts with CH2M Hill” and that Flint would not oversee work on the wastewater project in his new position.

Flint is among as many as 19 top city employees who work under contracts with the mayor. It was not clear Thursday how many of those employees would be deemed exempt from provisions of the ethics policy. Hession said he had not considered updating those contracts to include the ethics policy as a condition of employment.

Also, the ethics policy was not extended to employees under collective bargaining contracts. Hession said he would consider negotiating the ethics policy into any future labor contracts.

Councilman Bob Apple last week said he expected the city attorney’s office to come up with a loophole to exempt Flint from the ethics policy. “If the city attorney can find a way around it, I suppose we’ll have to live with it,” Apple said.