The era of Gilbert’s former ethics code for its council and commission members came to a quiet, if bewildering, end at the Gilbert Town Council meeting Dec. 12.
Council took no action on former Councilmember Bill Spence’s ethics complaint against unnamed council members dating to July 27. Like a previous complaint by residents Brandon Ryff and Ryan Handelsman against Mayor Brigette Peterson, council’s nonaction stops short of accepting the findings of independent investigator Sarah Barnes’ report and dismissing the complaint, but it does effectively kill the complaint.
Spence’s complaint was the last active one under the former code of ethics. A new code, one that requires mediation before moving to investigation, was put in place last June and took effect for complaints filed after Aug. 20.
Spence’s complaint was mostly tied to the District at Cooley Station development vote in April. Council approved the development on four 6-0 votes with Councilmember Jim Torgeson recusing himself. The complaint expanded over time and mostly zeroed in on Torgeson as four amendments were added to it.
Perhaps the most serious allegation was that landowner Jeff Cooley felt threatened by what he described as a Torgeson demand for Cooley to sign an agreement not to sue the town if a commuter station did not get built on Cooley Station land.
A tape of a phone conversation between Cooley and Peterson eventually emerged in which Cooley reported the situation to Peterson, but it is unclear if the tape was evaluated by Barnes in making her report.
Barnes wrote there was insufficient evidence to support that Torgeson made such threats, though his efforts “may be viewed as objectionable or simply a poor approach.” She added, “It may behoove Councilmember Torgeson to ensure he more carefully expresses his concerns and beliefs about various matters before the council.”
Peterson echoed on Spence’s complaint what council’s dissatisfaction had been with the complaint against her — that the investigation was inadequate.
“I don't like the way this investigation was done,” she said. “I think it was very poorly done. I know it took a long time and it had a lot of parts to it, but there was a lot of information that I think was overlooked.”
But she also expressed puzzlement whether council could even vote on the matter given the original complaint was against the entire council.
Town Attorney Chris Payne told council members the old code did not specifically prohibit council members from voting on it, as the new one does, but it was always best practice not to vote on a complaint in which they were named.
As a result, he said council could take no action, in which case the complaint would simply die, or it could evaluate the allegations one by one, as the investigator did in her report, and take action on each with the named council member not voting in a particular section.
Vice Mayor Kathy Tilque advocated for that approach but was willing to take no action. Chuck Bongiovanni, primarily named in one allegation, said he was good with whatever council decided to do. But Torgeson and Scott Anderson both bluntly expressed a desire to just let it die, and Bobbi Buchli agreed.
Bongiovanni praised the work of the investigator in making sense of the complaint, of which he was critical, though he said he supported residents being able to use the complaint process.
“It was a waste of five months of our time and taxpayer's money,” he said. “However, it did do some things that created chaos, created mistrust in this dais. … The good thing that this investigation did do was unite this council.”
Torgeson said he has learned much through the process.
"I operate as a businessman," said Torgeson, who owns a Mesa sign shop. "I am used to dealing with that and not in a more formal of a governmental setting. So you get a certain awareness that possibly I lack at times, but it gave me appreciation for the skin that everyone on this council has — gives you appreciation for the skin the mayor has. You've seen a lot of this over the last two years and it's not fun."
Just prior to the discussion of the Spence complaint, Tilque gave an update on the Ryff/Handelsman complaint, for which council required Peterson to undergo additional training on conducting open meetings from the Arizona League of Cities and Towns.
Tilque said Peterson had completed the training and no further penalties were warranted. She said the matter was now closed.
The new ethics process, however, may get additional revisions. Anderson asked the ethics subcommittee, which he chairs, to reconvene in the new year to discuss issues with the process.
The first mediation arising from the new process, one on a complaint from resident Maureen Hoppe against Torgeson, reached an impasse without the two ever meeting face to face.
We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on X.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
Gilbert Town Council,
Gilbert ethics complaints,
Bill Spence,
Jim Torgeson,
Brigette Peterson,
Chuck Bongiovanni,
Scott Anderson,
Kathy Tilque,
Bobbi Buchli
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