Collierville alderman files ethics complaint

Cites conflict of interest in parks bid

Collierville Alderman Tom Allen is accusing a parks advisory board member of an ethics violation after the board member was awarded a parks construction contract.

Steve Madden of Madden Phillips Contractors Inc., was awarded a $367,580 contract to put in a new athletic field at Progress Road Park. The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the contract, which according to city documents was the lowest of seven bids, during the March 9 meeting. Allen was out of town that week and did not vote on the contract.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen will hold a hearing on the issue Monday. But town officials said the issue is murky because the town attorney is in the process of revising this part of the ethics code.

Allen said Madden’s service on the all-volunteer advisory board should prohibit him from being able to bid on a parks contract. He said because Madden’s commission recommended the project to the aldermen and the administration, he technically voted on it and should not benefit from the contract.

“If that’s not a conflict of interest I don’t know what is,” Allen said, reiterating the same words he wrote on the handwritten complaint he filed with the town attorney.

Madden said he’s done several projects for the city over the last 16 years, including while serving on the advisory board for the past four years. He said the aldermen appointed him to the board again this year knowing he’s a contractor who has done work for the town. He said when he recommended the Progress Road Park project, it was part of a parks capital improvements list and was a general recommendation for additional soccer fields.

Minutes from the parks meeting state “all Board members were in agreement” but do not reflect a roll-call vote. Madden said he

would not have known to recuse himself because he had not yet submitted a bid.

When the project came up for bidding, Madden said he realized it was within the capabilities of his company. The competitive bidding process, he said, should eliminate concern of a conflict of interest.

“If I was involved with the design or saying how it was going to be built, I can see a problem with it,” he said. “I have no inside information because it’s all open to the public.”

Town Administrator James Lewellen agreed being a member of the parks board does not give a contractor an advantage in the bidding process, nor does it give the person authority to approve a project. That authority rests with the aldermen.

Vice Mayor Maureen Fraser said the same week the project was approved, the board members discussed in a work session a revision of the ethics policy. She said the current policy is vague on whether a volunteer member of an advisory board would be excluded from bidding on projects, and that the city attorney is currently drafting a new policy that would allow for it. Fraser said contractors and other experts might shy away from volunteering their time with the town if their companies could never do business with the town.

Alderman Billy Patton said the language in the current ethics policy does not reflect its intent. As it stands, he said, it would prohibit the aldermen from voting on a budget that contains money for the Chamber of Commerce, as most aldermen are chamber members.

Lewellen said the town’s attorney, Nathan Bicks, is investigating the complaint and will make a report to the aldermen Monday. Even if there is no clear-cut violation, he said, “perception’s very important.”