Atlanta’s Board of Ethics is investigating a complaint that City Councilman H. Lamar Willis had an improper interest in a company trying to secure a no-bid contract to convert grease into biodiesel fuel.
Willis recently sponsored and voted to approve legislation that would allow the city to negotiate a “sole-source” contract with Atlanta-based FogFuels.
The complaint was filed by Matthew Cardinale, editor of Atlanta Progressive News. This week, the alternative news website posted an email from a FogFuels executive, titled “new team members,” that Cardinale said indicated Willis had a financial interest in the company.
But FogFuels and Willis say the dust-up is a misunderstanding based on a misreading of the internal email and that the councilman is not affiliated with FogFuels as an employee, consultant or in any other capacity. No such arrangement was ever discussed, Willis and FogFuels executives told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In the email FogFuels chief executive Paul Marshall sent to his staff, Willis is described as a member of the team “on the Government side.” The email, which mentioned only one other person, also used the term “new appointments.”
Marshall told the AJC that the intention of his Aug. 3 email was to explain that Willis would consider sponsoring a resolution about a potential FogFuels biodiesel plant in Atlanta.
Willis denied any impropriety and said his only involvement with FogFuels was pushing for the grease recycling plant to be built at no capital cost to the city.
“There was nothing to disclose,” Willis said. “There’s nothing there. There’s nobody being paid. There’s absolutely nothing.”
In an Aug. 7 letter to the city’s ethics officer, Willis said he had no monetary interest in FogFuels and was not receiving any remuneration from the company.
Cardinale said he stood by the “factual accuracy” of his reporting.
Last year, the ethics board fined Willis $3,500 for accepting money for his foundation that was provided by companies and people doing business with the city. In 2009, the Fulton County Superior Court fined him $25,000 for not registering his foundation as a charitable organization and not properly maintaining financial records for it.
Atlanta City Council members are prohibited from voting on contracts for companies in which they have a stake. They are also supposed to disclose financial interests in outside companies.
A review of state and local campaign and personal finance disclosures by the AJC found no donations to Willis from people listing FogFuels as their employer. Willis last filed a financial report with the state ethics commission on Jan. 15, according to state records.
Willis said he had lunch in Buckhead on Aug. 2 with Paul Marshall, FogFuels’ chief executive. Willis told the AJC he had heard that FogFuels’ plans to set up a facility in Cobb County had stalled, and he wanted to see whether Atlanta could grab the project.
“I saw what I thought was an opportunity,” Willis said. “It’s been a nightmare so far.”
The day after the lunch, Marshall sent the email at the center of Cardinale’s complaint.
“Steve Hornyak will be officially introduced to the team as part of our new initiative on the Commercial Operations side as well [as] Councilmember Lamar Willis of the City of Atlanta on the Government side,” he wrote.
“Thank you for your attention to these new appointments,” Marshall continued. “Their profiles will be made available shortly. This information as always is private and confidential … and not for public consumption until it is appropriate for the public domain.”
On Aug. 7, Willis sent a letter to the city’s ethics officer, asking whether he could sponsor legislation authorizing negotiations for a sole-source contract with FogFuels. Nina Hickson, the ethics officer, said she could find no policy against that, providing Willis had no personal or financial stake in the company and did not represent it as an attorney.
On Aug. 29, a resolution introduced by Willis passed through the council’s finance/executive committee. On Sept. 4, it was approved by the full council, with Willis voting in favor. The resolution had eight other co-sponsors.
Willis told the AJC he had no reason to recuse himself.
“There’s nothing to hide here, not even remotely,” Willis said this week. “That’s why I’m so [upset] right now.”
The city’s Procurement and Watershed Management departments both signed off on FogFuels’ request for a sole-source contract, according to documents obtained by the AJC. Sole-source contracts can be awarded without competition after a “good-faith due diligence review” by the city’s chief procurement officer determines that there is only one source for the required supply, service, construction item or service.
Kent Antley, FogFuels’ attorney, blamed one or more disgruntled former employees for providing inaccurate information in an attempt to discredit the company. In an email to council members, he wrote that FogFuels “made no promise of compensation of any sort” to Willis.
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