Ethics board says City Planning Commission chairwoman had no conflict

 The city's Board of Ethics does not think that the chairwoman of the City Planning Commission had any conflict of interest when she voted to approve plans for the proposed 81-home Sugar Creek development on Zika Avenue NW across from Ellis Golf Course.

Larry Prachar, a neighbor at 2135 Zika Ave. NW near the proposed development site, wrote to the ethics board calling into question Chairwoman Lana Baldus' employment as a Realtor at Skogman Realty and the fact that Kyle Skogman, president of Skogman Homes, has advocated for the Sugar Creek project and intends to build some of the homes for it.

Baldus voted to approve the project at the commission level on June 23, though the project failed to win a commission recommendation. Two votes against different aspects of the project were 4-3, according to commission minutes.

The City Council last week ignored the commission recommendation and approved the site plan for the development on a 5-4 vote.

In response to Prachar's inquiry, the ethics board submitted questions to the city staff about the June 23 commission meeting and the vote on the Zika Avenue NW proposal.

In turn, Vern Zakostelecky, the city's land development coordinator and city staff representative to the planning commission, responded via letter, noting, in part, that no one associated with Skogman attended the June 23 commission meeting and no mention was made at the meeting of any involvement by Skogman in the proposal. High Development Corp. of Cedar Rapids is the developer and T.J. Berthel Enterprises Development owns the 25-acre site.

From Zakostelecky's responses, the five members of the ethics board concluded that Baldus had no reason to know that Kyle Skogman or Skogman Homes had any involvement in the project at the time Baldus spoke favorably about the development and voted for it.

The ethics board also noted that Baldus is an independent Realtor who does not work directly for Skogman.

In any event, board member Bill Vincent on Tuesday suggested that the ethics board send a letter to Baldus and ask her if she had any knowledge of Skogman's interest in the Sugar Creek project prior to her commission vote on the project.

In subsequent weeks, Kyle Skogman appeared in front of the City Council advocating for the Sugar Creek project.

Among the central focuses of the ethics board – Judi Whetstine, board chairwoman, mentioned it again Tuesday – is to educate City Council members and members of city boards and commissions about potential conflicts of interest. The board is encouraging those members to provide full disclosure about any relationships they might have with a matter before them even when the relationships don't necessarily involve a conflict of interest.

Board members pointed to a matter which Dan Thies, president/CEO of OPN Architects Inc. and chairman of the city's Airport Commission, recently brought in front of the ethics board.

Thies has said that OPN will not do any work for the airport while he is an Airport Commission member, but Thies wondered if he had any conflict of interest when OPN bids on or does work elsewhere in city government. The ethics board said he and OPN did not. But the board recommended Thies note his position on the Airport Commission when OPN is doing business with other parts of city government.