City hires attorney for ethics advice City hires attorney for ethics advice (June 25, 2004)

Adviser will look at Martello-Foothill Disposal link

By Jon Wiener

In response to questions of a conflict of interest, Mountain View City Council members voted unanimously on Tuesday to retain an independent attorney. He will advise them on the ethics of City Attorney Michael Martello's personal relationship with Pamela Read, general manager of the Foothill Disposal Company, which provides the city's garbage services.

The city will pay Michael Jenkins, a partner in a Southern California law firm, $200 per hour for up to 25 hours. He will advise the council's ad hoc ethics committee, which consists of Mayor Matt Pear, Vice Mayor Matt Neely and Council member Mike Kasperzak. Martello would normally be the staff liaison to the ethics committee but will not have that role in this case.

"The ethics committee is in a bit of a tight spot," said Council member Greg Perry. "They are supposed to hire an attorney to investigate the person who is supposed to give them advice on such matters."

Martello admitted to a Voice reporter last month that he has a personal relationship with Read, information he said he shared with the council in April. He said he recused himself from all matters dealing with Foothill Disposal and the Chamber of Commerce, where Read chairs the board of directors. Although he helped write the city's code of conduct in 2002 -- which includes the formation of an ethics committee -- he will not be involved with the committee's deliberations.

Jenkins is no newcomer to local politics. In 2002, he was retained by the city of Palo Alto and issued a report clearing its city council members of violating the Brown Act, the state's open meetings law. His conclusions were later reinforced by a district attorney's investigation but were criticized by the general public.

Gary Wesley, a local attorney and former council candidate, sent two letters to the Mountain View council members urging them not to hire Jenkins, based on his track record.

At Tuesday's meeting, he repeated his criticisms. "He would whitewash this. You shouldn't trust him and you shouldn't hire him," said Wesley. "We have experience with Michael Jenkins, and it wasn't a good one from the public's point of view."

Kasperzak said he contacted Jenkins to discuss the possibility of retaining him. Jenkins told him that he had a passing relationship with Martello through the City Attorneys Department of the League of American Cities.

"Jenkins is not being retained to conduct an investigation. He's being retained to advise the committee," Kasperzak said.

Kasperzak added the two agreed that the majority of Jenkins' advice would come in the form of conference calls, in order to keep expenses down.

Martello said he does not feel awkward about the hiring of an attorney to take his place in a matter involving him.

"We step up when there's an appearance of conflict of interest," said Martello. "We've been a leader in this area, and I think this will be a test of the process."

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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