Columbus Councilor Byron Hickey questions city manager Isaiah Hugley’s ethics
Columbus Councilor Byron Hickey of District 1 questioned during Tuesday’s meeting a small business grant state Rep. Carolyn Hugley (D-Columbus), wife of city manager Isaiah Hugley, received for her State Farm insurance agency after residents complained during the public agenda portions of previous meetings.
During the public agenda of the March 25 meeting, Columbus resident Kathryn Tanner also criticized Carolyn Hugley receiving money that had to be approved by her husband’s office. This followed a similar criticism from Columbus resident Nathan Smith, who raised the issue during the public agenda portion of the Feb. 25 meeting after seeing the payment in the city’s annual audit.
Isaiah Hugley said during the March 25 meeting the grant’s amount is approximately $29,000.
In response to the criticism, deputy city manager Pam Hodge also spoke during the March 25 meeting, stating that Carolyn Hugley received the grant as a State Farm agent in a program for small businesses run by the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Community Reinvestment Department and funded by the federal American Rescue Plan.
When the application came to Isaiah Hugley’s office to be signed, Hodge said, he contacted the city attorney and the mayor. Hugley did not sign his wife’s documentation, she said. Hodge signed it.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Hickey asked Hodge whether there is a video clip from CCG-TV showing Hugley disclosing to the Columbus Council that Carolyn Hugley received this grant.
Hodge said she hasn’t been able to find a video clip, and Mayor Skip Henderson reiterated that the grant had been disclosed to him and the city attorney.
Henderson didn’t believe there was any need for the council to be informed more than they had been, he said, because Hugley received his directions from city attorney Clifton Fay.
“The city attorney’s direction was that she (should be) treated like everybody else,” Henderson said. “The only thing he suggested was that he not be involved in signing that particular form.”
Hugley disclosed grant to other city officials
Hugley provided a copy of an email, dated May 20, 2022, that was sent to Hodge and cc’d to Henderson, Fay, assistant city attorney Lucy Sheftall, director of finance Angelica Alexander and deputy city manager Lisa Goodwin.
The email informed Pam and other city officials that Carolyn F. Hugley State Farm Insurance was approved for a small business grant and required the city manager’s signature. Hugley explained that, because the grant recipient was his wife, Fay advised him that Hodge should be the one to sign the document.
Hundreds of applications went through the same approval process by the Chamber of Commerce before being sent to the city to be verified, Hugley said. When his wife’s application came up, he said, Hugley followed the city attorney’s advice.
“Let me add that that advice is what we would give anybody if their family member or spouse was involved in any matter pending before the council or the government,” Fay told the council during Tuesday’s meeting. “That would be not to participate in any discussion, not to participate in any vote and not to participate in any signature.”
Hickey reiterated that his problem is that this issue had not been presented to the council. All of the items from the small business grants were made available to the council, Henderson said.
They were not presented to the council, Hugley said, because there was nothing to vote on. But the information was provided, he said.
That didn’t satisfy Hickey.
“According to the charter, when you bring it to the council, you have to get the council approval and let the council vote to make that happen,” Hickey countered. “I mean, we can interpret this any way that we want to interpret it, but I’m reading what the charter says and that’s all I’m saying.”
Councilor John Anker, of citywide District 9, agreed with Hickey that there should have been more disclosure.
“I don’t believe the city attorney necessarily gave him bad advice,” Anker said during Tuesday’s meeting. “But I think the right thing to do would have been for him to bring it forward and talk to the city council who has the voting authority.”
Debate about the city charter
Carolyn Hugley’s application was vetted through the normal processes, he said.
Hickey argued that Hugley violated the city charter by not informing the council. Appendix Two, which is the code of ethics and prohibited practices, states:
“Any elected official, appointed officer or employee of any office, department or agency to which this code of ethics applies who shall have any private financial interest, directly or indirectly, in any contract or matter pending before or within such office, department or agency shall disclose such private interest [to] the Council.”
After reading the excerpt from the charter, Hickey asked again to see the video clip where this grant was disclosed to the council.
Hugley told the council that, although other people have stated he had mentioned the grant to the council or in a “public meeting”, he is unsure whether he did do this or not.
No one is questioning whether Carolyn Hugley’s business qualified for the grant, Hickey said, and it’s clear that she qualified for it. But the city manager went to “everybody but the council,” he said.
“Every time that I’ve had to recuse myself from a vote or a discussion, I’ve been told that I have to state it in the council,” Councilor Charmaine Crabb of District 5 said during Tuesday’s meeting. “Then the council has to vote on it, and then I leave.”
Crabb recalled one instance when a vote wasn’t taken, she said, so she had to come back into the chamber to vote on the issue because her “recusal was not effective.”
Disclosing conflicts of interest and voting on recusals are consistent in her experience, Crabb said.
“That’s a different situation when you’re talking about a council vote versus what (Hugley) was asking guidance on,” Fay told Crabb.
Hugley was asking about participating in a document, he said, and the item did not require a vote.
Fay again said Hugley disclosed the grant issue in a public meeting, but he couldn’t remember which meeting.
Henderson agreed to help look for a video clip in which Hugley brought this up in a meeting, but the mayor said he felt the issue was already “put to bed” because the city manager followed the legal advice of the city attorney.
“If I go to (Fay), I don’t want to think about who else should I maybe tell this to,” Henderson said.
Hugley didn’t reach out and say, “Hey, I’m going to do this,” Henderson said. Instead, Hugley asked for guidanceabout what he should do, he said.
“To me, this is much ado about nothing because he got advice,” Henderson said.
There are so many situations where this council uses common sense, he said, and they are in situations where it could be argued that they violated rules.
Hickey asked Fay for his professional opinion on the meaning of the city charter excerpt he had quoted. Fay said it would normally mean an individual would send an email or letter to the council but, in this case, Hugley was advised to not participate in the signing of the document.
“Now, if you want to take something to the district attorney or another authority, you’re free to do so,” Fay said. “But that’s our opinion.”
Other than Anker, Crabb and Hickey, no other councilors spoke about this topic during Tuesday’s meeting.
