SAN ANTONIO – An ethics complaint filed against Mayor Ivy Taylor has been dismissed and will not be referred to the city’s Ethics Review Board.
In March, Gay Wright, secretary of The Alamo Group of The Sierra Club, filed the complaint against Taylor alleging she violated city campaign contribution rules by accepting financial donations from the owners of Pape-Dawson Engineers and their family members during the same time period when she voted to approve SAWS’ Vista Ridge Pipeline as mayor of San Antonio and as a member of the SAWS Board of Trustees.
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The pipeline, which will pump water from Burleson County to Bexar County, has been the subject of scrutiny.
Last fall, City Council members voted to raise water rates to help pay for the project shortly before Abengoa, the original company in charge of the plans, filed for pre-insolvency in Spain.
Ross Fischer of The Gober Group, serving as special counsel for the review board, issued a response to the ethics complaint concluding that no violation occurred.
The conclusion cited several reasons, including that “the city’s municipal Campaign Finance Code does not govern discretionary contracts sought through the SAWS procurement process” and that the contributors listed in the complaint “are not restricted by section 2-309 of the City’s Municipal Campaign Finance Code.”
To read the full conclusion and the original complaint, click here.
In response to the dismissal, Wright said The Sierra Club believes the complaint should have gone before the full Ethics Review Board. She added that the organization plans to pursue the complaint further despite the ruling.
Garney Construction is set to take over Abengoa’s stake in the pipeline project.
The Sierra Group has publically opposed the project.