Mr. Baroniak,

After consultation, I have been advised to file this complaint with the St. Mary’s County Ethics Commission in order to afford the County the opportunity to formally revisit this issue. As I pointed out below, Mr. Parlett’s financial disclosure is incomplete, so I cannot calculate how much property he owns in the RPD. I urge you to compel Mr. Parlett to provide full and complete disclosure as required. I believe his incomplete FDS should have been realized during the EC’s review of it. I also urge you to ask for a stay of proceedings on the RPD Task Force so as to avoid the tainting of their work should these two members be found to have conflicts of interest. Respectfully, I also believe that you should recuse yourself from deliberation in this matter. I believe your service with Mr. Parlett on the Chamber of Commerce task force that recommended the RPD Task Force in the first place will impair your objectivity. You have already verbally expressed to me your personal desire to have Mr. Parlett serve on the RPD Task Force regardless of the issues I’ve raised.

I believe developers and others who own land in the RPD (stakeholders) certainly have a lot to contribute from their unique perspective, however I also believe it impossible for their judgement to be impartial. The RPD Task Force should certainly listen to these stakeholders, but they should not serve on a task force that is expected to provide objective and impartial advice and recommendations to the BOCC.

I believe the following provisions of the Ethics Ordinance are violated by appointing Mr. Parlett and Mr. Dorsey to the RPD Task Force:

C. Outside employment restrictions. Except as permitted by other provisions of this Ordinance or by ruling or regulation of the Commission when such interest is disclosed or when the employment does not create a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict, a St. Mary’s County official or employee may not:

2. Hold any employment relationship or have a financial interest which would impair the impartiality or independence of judgment of the official or employee.

The following is cut-n-pasted from the preamble to the St. Mary’s County Ethics Ordinance, and I feel it should be kept forefront in the thoughts of anyone deliberating this issue;

“St. Mary’s County, recognizing that our system of representative government is dependent in large measure upon the people having trust and confidence in their public officials and employees, finds and declares that the people have a right to be assured that the impartiality and independent judgment of public officials and employees will be maintained. This confidence and trust is eroded when the conduct of St. Mary’s County business is subject to improper influence, or even the appearance of improper influence.”

If you need me to provide a signed and notorized copy of this complaint, please let me know; otherwise this will serve as my formal Ethics Complaint.

Respectfully,

Walter Burch