Public Works Misconduct in Tulsa and Montreal
Two former public works employees are in the news this week for
misconduct.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=334&articleid=200…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Tulsa World</a>, a former Tulsa field engineering
officer <span id="ctl00_body1_art_lblArticleText">who sat on the
Professional Consulting Services Selection Committee</span> pleaded
guilty to <span id="ctl00_body1_art_lblArticleText">bribery
conspiracy, mail fraud conspiracy, and procurement fraud. What's
especially interesting about the bribery here is that the bribes were
paid </span><span id="ctl00_body1_art_lblArticleText">through the
submission of inflated invoices. The official and </span><span id="ctl00_body1_art_lblArticleText">someone from the construction
company </span><span id="ctl00_body1_art_lblArticleText">made up
inflated invoices and then divided the excess paid by the city. A
clever method that local governments should watch for.<br>
<br>
According to <a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/city+executive+probed/1933523/s…; target="”_blank”">an
article in the Montreal Gazette</a>, the former public works director
is being investigated not because he and his wife went on a vacation to
Italy with the president and vice-president of city contractors with whom he directly did business, as
well as a construction union leader, but because he didn't
report the trip.<br>
<br>
</span>The investigation began when the mayor was given a tip about the
trip. The mayor's office notified the human resources department. The
public works director was questioned about the trip, and he immediately
resigned.<br>
<br>
The mayor took this to mean that the new ethics code is working, even
though the code did not tell the director not to go on the trip. He says he doesn't
see a
need to tighten the rules. "We have a good ethics code for our
public servants, but if someone wants to do things that are irregular
... then it has nothing to do with an ethics code." I hope that's just
a poor translation from the French.<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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