MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Manager Paul Brake said City Attorney Ryan Simonton did not violate ethics laws by participating in interviews to select the private firm through which he would be employed to represent the city.
As part of the most recent budget process, Brake eliminated the city’s in-house attorney position, opting instead to enter into a retainer agreement with a private firm that would hire Simonton to continue as the city’s general counsel and provide additional resources as needed.
An April request for qualifications elicited responses from two firms — Kay Casto & Chaney, and Jackson Kelly — and attorney Tim Stranko, who previously served as counsel for the Morgantown Utility Board and currently represents the city of Westover.
Simonton officially ended his tenure as a city employee on June 28. An Outside Counsel Retainer Agreement was finalized with Kay Casto & Chaney — a former employer of Simonton — on July 2.
Simonton no longer receives any compensation or benefits from the city. He is now paid by Kay Casto & Chaney out of the $30,000 monthly retainer paid by the city to the firm.
The city manager’s authority to make such an administrative move is not in question. That authority is provided in city code dating back to 1979 and was reaffirmed in a March 11 letter from West Virginia Ethics Commission Staff Attorney Theresa Kirk at Brake’s request.
What is in question, or is at least being considered by the Ethics Commission, is whether Simonton should have participated in those interviews.
Former City Councilor Ryan Wallace asked that question in a complaint filed with the Ethics Commission, which then provided Simonton with a notice of investigation indicating the commission’s review board intended to look into whether there is probable cause of a violation.
In the notice, dated July 19, West Virginia Ethics Commission Executive Director Rebecca Stepto points to state Code 6B-2-5, which prohibits a full-time public employee from participating in a decision making process involving a vendor with whom he or she is seeking employment or has an agreement concerning future employment.
Prohibited participation, the code states, includes the offering of recommendations or advice. Another portion of the same code section cited in the notice prohibits a public official or employee from knowingly using public office for private gain.
Asked if Simonton’s participation violated the Ethics Act, Brake said, “No.”
“I know what my decision was and how I arrived at that information. Ryan Simonton had no influence,” Brake said, explaining that he requested Simonton’s presence to provide information about the functions of the city attorney’s office and to offer help in clarifying information in the proposals.
“He wasn’t interviewing them. I was,” Brake said.
Asked if Simonton’s previous employment with Kay Casto & Chaney may have contributed to an appearance of impropriety — either real or perceived — Brake reiterated that the decision was not Simonton’s to make.
“There was [a previous relationship], but the thing is, I’m the objective view,” Brake said, later adding “This notion that it was somehow preconceived, it wasn’t.”
The city budgeted $460,000 for contracted legal services in the current fiscal year, up about $72,000 from the previous year’s budget for legal services.
Tweet @DominionPostWV.
