Four Durango city councilors agreed Tuesday to lodge an ethics complaint against a fellow councilor – presumably Olivier Bosmans – for participating in an advisory board meeting even though he is not assigned to serve as a liaison to that board.
Councilors said it may have violated the city’s code of ethics, and they want a ruling from the city’s board of ethics. They also said at least one city staff member characterized a councilor’s conduct as “unprofessional” – again, presumably Bosmans’ – which may be a violation of the city’s code of conduct.
The problem with councilors participating in advisory board meetings when they are not assigned to those boards is that they can exert influence over other members, just by the nature of them being a city councilor, said Councilor Kim Baxter.
“If a councilor is trying to influence a board one way or another, then other councilors do not have the same opportunity to express their opinion without also violating the code of ethics,” she said.
The decision to proceed with an ethics complaint came during a fiery City Council meeting that included Bosmans up until he walked out of the meeting accusing councilors of launching a personal attack against him and straying from the publicly noticed purpose of the meeting.
“I will not participate in a specific attack, I’ll call it, on something that you have determined to discuss if it’s not on the agenda,” he said.
The meeting agenda item read: “Discussion and Possible Action Regarding Council's Role and Responsibilities When One or More Member Becomes Aware of a Potential Violation of the Code of Conduct/Code of Ethics.”
Interim city attorney Bill Tuthill said the agenda item was written in a way to protect the identities of those involved in an alleged ethics violation and is broad enough to allow councilors to discuss specific cases.
“Could it be worded differently, yeah. Is it worded broad enough to cover a range of conversation, yes,” Tuthill said. “If I think you start straying beyond that I’ll let you know.”
Given the go ahead to proceed, Mayor Barbara Noseworthy explained that a councilor is accused of attending and participating in an advisory board meeting for which that person is not a liaison to, a possible violation of the city’s code of ethics.
Councilors avoided naming the councilor during discussions, although it is widely understood they were talking about Bosmans.
Possible penalties
Possible actions for violating city code include:
- Reprimanding the offending councilor or city official publicly or in writing.
- Requiring remedial or educational training as related to the violation committed, payable by the city and subject to reimbursement by the official through withholding or reducing pay.
- Suspending or removing the city official from any elected or appointed position or liaison role.
- Publicly censoring the city official and requiring a letter of apology from the city official to the affected person.
She said the city has several options it can pursue, including filing a complaint with the board of ethics.
At that point, Bosmans gathered his belongings and left the meeting.
“This is very clearly not a general discussion on the council as the agenda item states,” he said. “It is very clearly on a very specific alleged violation. The agenda item did not specify it and, as such, I think our community has not been made aware with the due notice period. I was not made aware that this would be another personal attack, because obviously this is about me.”
As he was leaving, Bosmans said the meeting was a “very, very personal attack” and City Council violated meeting rules.
Baxter said the special meeting on Tuesday was “one of the strangest meetings that I’ve ever attended in my total, whole, entire life.” She said she supports filing an ethics complaint with the board of ethics as well as removing the councilor in question from liaison duties to boards and commissions.
She echoed a sentiment she shared during a February meeting that centered on ethics complaints and the behavior of Bosmans, and said if there are no consequences for violations of the codes of conduct or ethics, a precedent is set for that behavior to continue.
Councilor Jessika Buell said she also supports filing an ethics complaint and hearing subsequent recommendations from the board of ethics.
“I want the next two years of me being on City Council to be productive and effective and efficient and not have meetings like this happen again,” she said.
“This is a crazy meeting,” she said. “I just feel like our core values of professionalism, integrity, teamwork – all the things we value – are being jeopardized, and I don’t like that.”
She said she values city staff members and wants them to be comfortable at city meetings.
“And if they’re not feeling that – I feel like action for removing him, or removing the person from any boards and commissions would be helpful too,” she said.
Noseworthy and Baxter agreed to work together to draft a complaint to the board of ethics.
In a phone call with The Durango Herald following the special meeting, Bosmans said City Council has “consistently” intimidated him and dispensed misinformation, including about two ethics complaints he filed with the board of ethics that went to mediation – an indication, he said, that the complaints had merit.
He filed the complaints against Baxter in 2021 and 2022, both of which were dismissed by the board. Tom Sluis, city spokesman, said Bosmans’ ethics complaints were dismissed as having no merit without going to mediation. One complaint was recommended for mediation, but it never occurred.
Bosmans said City Council’s inquiry relates to a Library Advisory Board meeting in which he spoke to clarify facts. Other councilors also spoke at the meeting, he said.
In an interview Wednesday, Noseworthy said the city manager and the director of the library have confirmed no other councilors were at the Library Advisory Board meeting that Bosmans references.
She said she has attended advisory board meetings she is not a liaison too, but she did not speak during public participation at those meetings. In one instance, another councilor requested that Noseworthy fill in as liaison to a Natural Lands Board meeting because the assigned liaison could not attend.
“If we know we are going to miss an (advisory board) meeting, we will ask if any councilor can fill in for us,” she said. “This was not the case with regard to the LAB (Library Advisory Board) meeting.”
Noseworthy said Tuesday’s special meeting was not an “attack” on Bosmans; rather, the meeting was held for all members of City Council to discuss possible actions about a potential serious violation by a councilor.
“It’s serious enough that four councilors decided to proceed with filing this complaint,” she said. “I don’t see that as an attack. I see that as council upholding its responsibility to hold individual council members accountable for their actions.”
Bosmans said he is convinced the “performance and civility on council will significantly increase” once two new city councilors are seated after the April 4 municipal election.
“I actually look forward to working both with new councilors as well as remaining councilors in a constructive, positive manner moving the many different important topics forward, and making good decisions,” he said.
Noseworthy said Bosmans’ comment implies outgoing councilors – herself and Baxter – aren’t civil, and that isn’t the case.
“I think the case is that we are working with a very difficult situation that is impacting staff and others and council, and we have to address this in an open forum,” she said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
