Olney ethics investigation will wait until after city budget talks
Apr. 17—WATERTOWN — The City Council will not take up the ethics investigation into Councilman Cliff G. Olney until after this spring's budget deliberations are completed.
Council members will focus on the proposed city budget for the next several weeks before deciding whether to proceed with the investigation.
Mayor Sarah V.C. Pierce said earlier this week that she thinks it's important to follow through with the city Ethics Committee's findings against Olney and make them public.
She also stressed that she has "no interest" in Olney's removal from office.
Councilman Robert O. Kimball also believes that council needs to proceed with the investigation, saying that Pierce, as mayor, should determine what to do and when it should happen.
"I think we should move ahead," Kimball said.
In September, then-Mayor Jeffrey M. Smith filed an ethics complaint against Olney, accusing him of breaking council rules by making executive session material public.
The Ethics Committee recommended Olney be removed from office.
Recently, Pierce instructed city attorney Kristen E. Smith to put together a report about the process involved in the investigation.
If council proceeds, the city would have to hire an outside attorney to handle it in a formal administrative hearing.
The investigation would consist of hearing evidence and testimony and then council deciding what to do.
The probe would probably take several weeks and possibly cost $10,000, the city attorney has said.
The city attorney has determined that Olney also would have to hire his own attorney; the city would not pay for one for him.
According to the accusations, Olney was a close associate of the two businessmen involved in the city's purchase of the Watertown Golf Club last year. Michael E. Lundy sold the golf club to the city for $3.4 million and P.J. Simao, former owner of Ives Hill Country Club, received $850,000 in city money from the deal.
Smith contended that Olney should have recused himself from the deal and that he failed in his fiduciary responsibility as a city official.
Olney, who said he understands why council will proceed with the matter, has denied any wrongdoing.
He believes that the former mayor's ethics complaint was politically motivated. He also contended that his political enemies were involved in the ethics board probe.
"I'm not sure it was a legal process," Olney said. "It was orchestrated. It was a middle finger to me from Smith on his way out of office."
The councilman also never had a chance to defend himself when the Ethics Committee took up the allegations, Olney said.
