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Commissioner Williams denies conflict of interest, cites county code and confidentiality of ethics proceedings
Summary
Facing public allegations about undisclosed real estate status, the commissioner who voted to approve Lehi Villas delivered a lengthy defense, saying she disclosed her status on application materials, has no financial interest in the project, and cited Calvert County Code Section 41-13 governing conflicts.
A planning commissioner who was the subject of public allegations about potential undisclosed real-estate ties used the planning-commission report period to respond on the record.
The commissioner said her application to the Board of County Commissioners disclosed that she was a real estate agent and that her financial-disclosure forms require only sources of earned income for the applicable year. She denied any financial or personal interest in the Lusby/Lehi Villas project and said that apartment leasing would normally be handled by a management company, not individual real-estate sales agents.
Citing Calvert County Code Section 41-13, she said appointed officials must not participate in matters in which they have an economic interest, and reiterated she had no such interest. She also said she had not seen any filed ethics complaint even though she had been the subject of public comment alleging an ethics filing, and noted that Section 41-12(h)(2) makes ethics commission proceedings confidential until a violation is determined.
Her remarks followed public comments alleging she failed to disclose a real-estate license; she urged the commission and public that she had consistently consulted counsel where questions arose.
