Swore seeks advice on ethics question

Cedar Rapids Council member-elect Chuck Swore wants the city's Board of Ethics to sort something out for him as he prepares to take office on Jan. 2.

Swore, who created CRS Small Business Services after he retired as vice president/general manager at Acme Electric, now is in a position to use his oneman firm to provide case management services through a flood-recovery venture administered by the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce.

The City Council picked the Chamber to administer funds, which are provided from a state community disaster grant through the City Council to the Chamber.

Swore was not a council member when the program was established and approved by the council.

However, the Chamber will be making reports to the council on an ongoing basis and, perhaps, there could be funding issues in the future once Swore takes office.

In his letter to the city's Board of Ethics, Swore states that City Manager Jim Prosser and Richard Luther, the city's development operations manager, expressed a concern to him that his private contract with the Chamber's business-recovery venture could create “a conflict of interest” for him on the council.

Swore last night said he didn't think it did create a conflict, but he said he wanted to hear from the ethics board.

The board will meet at 3 p.m. today to discuss the matter and see if there are any ethical issues for it to consider.