Scottsdale City Council Member Barry Graham has filed a motion to dismiss the ethics complaint against him, which the review panel will decide on May 8.

Graham has been accused by resident Laura Norton of going against the city charter by directing staff to pause funding for a $3 million project to build a sidewalk on 68th Street between the Arizona Canal and Camelback Road based on a series of emails by city staff.

Graham has expressed his preference on the Scottsdale Independent’s Facebook page to spend the money on potholes instead of the sidewalk.
At the crux of the case is whether Graham “ordered” or “requested” funding to stop or if he simply said to City Treasurer Sonia Andrews that he didn’t like the project.

Graham has said all along that the complaint is only a politically motivated attack against him.

An attorney for the ethics review panel will interview city staff and report his findings by April 25, which gives attorneys on both sides time to prepare arguments to be made on May 8.