Ethics Commission hears complaint; considers next move By JOE REDMON Meade County Ethics Commission chair Joanne Fitzgibbon chaired a regularly scheduled session to consider the filing of required financial disclosure forms from certain public servants across the county. Attending the meeting were commission members Tara Powers, Tim Gossett, Gloria Brady and Lamar Jones. Joe Bewley and Harold Fackler were unable to attend. Meade County Attorney Margaret Matney was on hand for legal advice. The commission acknowledged receiving 16 of the required 20 disclosure forms, required of all elected officials and other officials handling large sums of public funds. They voted to send reminder letters to the four officials not yet complying with the ordinance. After approving the minutes from a past meeting, the commission heard from former Magistrate Don Callecod. He was on hand to speak about his three-year-old ethics complaint currently being considered by the commission. Callecod complained about a letter he had received from the commission stating that “every effort” had been made by the commission to ascertain the nature of his complaint, (apparently failing) when, he stated no one had bothered to even call him. He sarcastically added that his health kept him at home a lot and since his number is listed, he was “very easy to find.” Callecod then launched into a re-telling of his complaint, the highlights of which included: Callecod alleges former Meade County Attorney Darren Sipes rewrote the county’s ethics ordinance to prevent former Magistrate Kent Allen and former Judge Executive William Haynes from “even considering” matters concerning the management of solid waste in the county. His allegation centered on the rewritten definition of “immediate family” being changed to include members of a family not residing with the public servant, like a father or grown son. Callecod further explained the rewritten ordinance “emasculated” the commission, specifically exposing them each to individual liability in the execution of their official duties. Callecod further explained that at the time of this rewritten ethics ordinance (no longer valid as Fiscal Court rewrote it late last year) Sipes and the four approving members of Fiscal Court (Former Magistrates Jamie Staples and Harold Davidson, the late Magistrate Ronnie Greenwell and current Magistrate Herbie Chism) were embroiled in a lawsuit with the former ethics commission concerning past opinions of the commission. He termed this a “direct” conflict of interest. Callecod went on to add these same four magistrates twice rejected requests from the former Ethics Commission for funds to hire an attorney to defend the commission against the very same lawsuit brought by those four magistrates and Sipes. He then alleged the same four magistrates, after Sipes had agreed to pay rent to the county in exchange for running his private law practice from the county attorney’s office, subsequently waived the agreed upon payment. Callecod then finished his appearance by rhetorically asking, “Why am I here tonight?” He answered his own question by saying he wanted it in the record they voted in conflict in interest. “The record needs to be clear about what happened.” Callecod then thanked the commission and sat. Fitzgibbon then asked her fellow commission members if there were any questions for Callecod. There were none and the commission then voted to move directly to a closed session to consider Callecod’s complaint. Upon returning from an almost hour long closed session, the commission voted to notify the subject or subjects of Callecod’s ethics complaint and request further information from them. After approving the commission’s standard operation procedures, the commission voted to accept the submitted financial disclosures and draft an immediate letter to be sent to each of the four persons delinquent. The commission then adjourned, uncertain as to the date and time of their next meeting.
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