When does the planting of flowers to beautify a city constitute a potential crime?
A newcomer to the Forest Park city council spent Friday in an ethics hearing called to answer this and other questions connected to 25 accusations that she violated ethics and the city charter. At issue is whether Karen-Brandee Williams "ordered" city personnel to do a series of tasks, as alleged in the complaint filed by three Forest Park residents, or whether she simply made inquiries and requests as a well-intentioned newly elected official.
The complaints range from ordering a city department head to remove a sign from a property to ordering a police officer to give a speech at the grand re-opening of a local business to ordering a city director to plant a flower bed at a city intersection. Williams also is accused of using money from her Ward 2 fund to print T-shirts with her name and phone number on them. The T-shirts were given to constituents.
If she's found to have committed the violation, Williams could face the possibility of being removed from her council seat and fined. Ethics violations are a misdemeanor.
In his opening statement, Williams' attorney Dan Grossman conceded his client can be "very assertive and aggressive" and "she can send a flurry of bossy and pushy emails.
"I can understand how councilwoman Williams rubbed people the wrong way. But none of that violates (ethics) code. She got no personal gains from the T-shirts. They were (used) to serve her constituents." Grossman further noted that, in Williams' efforts to learn about her new position, she came into office a year ago "as a tornado. But a good tornado."
"This is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," he said. "She wanted to know how the city ran and that annoyed people."
Forest Park residents Roy and Dianne Lunsford and Carl Evans brought the complaints against Williams, saying they believe she's overstepping her authority.
"When you come to city council and you see discrepancies after discrepancies, you realize you have to make a stand," Dianne Lunsford said.
Williams was elected to the council in November 2009. A month later, she filed an open records request to city manager John Parker for documents pertaining to the city budget, contracts and other city business, trying to gain knowledge about the city, she said. The request was denied.
Williams was sworn in on Jan. 4, 2010. A month later, she asked that a special chair be purchased to accommodate her disabilities, which are vertigo and fibromyalgia. The chair cost between $200 and $400. Mayor Pro Tem Sparkle Adams admonished Williams for making the request, which the city denied after city attorneys said Williams wasn't disabled enough to warrant the provision of a special chair. The decision sparked controversy and media attention.
The ethics charges were filed against Williams last November. Most of the charges, according to Williams' attorney, are based on emails and other communications she had with directors of city services in connection with constituents' needs. Grossman said other council members have made many of the same inquiries and requests that led to Williams' current predicament. He presented emails from Mayor Pro Tem Sparkle Adams to city officials asking them to "put together small presentation" and other requests. He said if these charges are allowed to stand, it will deter others from running for office.
Parker was unavailable for comment on either case. He was subpoenaed as a witness in the ethics hearing.
Darrell Reynolds, the attorney for the Lunsfords and Evans, questioned Williams, who came to the hearing in a motorized chair, for three hours before bringing in 11 other witnesses. The chief of police, several city department director and others called to testify said that they took the emails in question as requests and not as orders from the councilwoman.
Real estate closing attorney Deborah Leslie, brought in as a mediator, will determine if Williams has violated any ethics or laws, then pass on her decision to to city council. City council will determine what actions should be taken.
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