By Jon Gillooly
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer
MARIETTA - City Councilman Van Pearlberg has requested an Ethics Committee ruling on whether Councilman Philip Goldstein should recuse himself from voting on a proposal to change the makeup of the Historic Board of Review.
Goldstein owns several properties that fall under the board's jurisdiction.
Last week, Mayor Bill Dunaway announced he would seek to alter the Historic Board of Review by making its members the same as those of the Historic Preservation Commission.
On Monday, Pearlberg wrote an e-mail to James W. Friedewald, the city's Ethics Committee attorney, seeking a ruling before May 12, when council is expected to vote on restructuring the Historic Board of Review. Pearlberg has long suggested a conflict of interest between Goldstein's council duties and his status as one of the largest downtown property owners.
Pearlberg wants the Ethics Committee to determine whether Goldstein is disqualified from voting on a resolution that would transfer authority from the Historic Board of Review, "a body elected from (Goldstein's) tenants" to the Historic Preservation Commission.
Dunaway has said the 10-member Historic Board of Review is largely controlled by Goldstein. The mayor has asked the council to consider dumping that board's members and replacing them with the seven members of the Historic Preservation Commission, which was created by the city council in 2005. Each member of city council names one person to the commission.
In his e-mail to the Ethics Committee, Pearlberg writes that because Goldstein's family owns so much real estate under the control of the Downtown Marietta Development Authority and Historic Board of Review, "it is reasonable to assume decisions of the DMDA and Historic Board of Review have a major impact on the use and ultimate value of these assets."
The Downtown Marietta Development Authority was created by the General Assembly in 1971. It has eight members; three are elected by property owners and three by business owners. Dunaway and Cobb Chairman Sam Olens are the other two members.
At least 180 property owners can vote for the DMDA members. Goldstein's family has 11 of those, or six percent.
About 300 business owners can vote for those three DMDA members. A city official said Goldstein's family has two of those votes.
The Historic Board of Review is one way the DMDA keeps downtown Marietta prosperous, a city official says. Its members include all the members of the DMDA, and those eight select two more Historic Board members. The City Council created the Historic Board in 1977 to assist the DMDA in considering applications for changes to buildings within its historic district.
If Dunaway prevails, both the Preservation Commission and Historic Review Board would still exist, they would simply have the same members.
Pearlberg points out that Goldstein owns the building that houses Shillings on the Square restaurant, and that Shillings' owner Dave Reardon is a member of the Authority and thus, the Historic Board of Review.
"Given the DMDA membership and voting rights are permitted only to property and business owners in the downtown district, it is reasonable to presume that Mr. Goldstein exerts significant influence on the DMDA and the underlying Historic Board of Review. Records will show at all DMDA elections, Mr. Goldstein's family members and tenants represent an overwhelming majority of the voters within the downtown district. Because of Councilman Goldstein's ownership of realty and buildings in the downtown district, he has a direct and indirect financial interest in the decisions of the DMDA, the DMDA Historic Board of Review, and is in a unique position to exert influence over the decisions of those who enjoy membership on the Authority," Pearlberg wrote in the ethics-ruling request.
Developer Wes Goldwin, another Authority and Historic Board of Review member, is also a Goldstein tenant.
The Ethics Committee has three members: chairman Warren Herron, a retired Lockheed executive, appointed by Dunaway; the Rev. James O. Speed, Jr., retired from Marietta's First Presbyterian Church, appointed by city council; and Jerry L. Gentry, a former attorney for Cobb County, appointed by the other members of the Ethics Committee.
Herron said he has set a meeting for 10 a.m. Thursday, provided Friedewald can attend.
"We've never done one like this before so we have to know what we're doing," Herron said.
jgillooly@mdjonline.com
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Posted Comments
Does the phrase "CONFLICT OF INTEREST" come to mind?!
It's about time. Please keep covering this story. M. Smith
My mother had a favorite expression for situations such as this one regarding the fox guarding the hen house door. In this instance the fox could be Goldstein, who is guarding the DMDA and the Historic Board of Review, by being a member of DMDA and having tenents who are also members of the same entities, thereby assuring that his views are secure and he can get what he wants at anytime. Who wants to vote against their landlord? There are subtle ways to leverage tenents to see issues his or his family's way. Or simply put, if it smells like a skunk, it is a skunk
If a developer on the DMDA has business relationships with a councilman, and the councilman is in a position to do the developer a "favor", i.e. give him almost half a million in TAD money solely to line the developer's pockets, why wouldn't you think that the developer would then feel obligated to steer votes in favor of the councilman? It's unethical...and business as usual in Marietta.
Duh! I'm sure Phillip is well prepared to challenge any common sense conclusion the Ethics Committee will make as this is not a new concept. Phillip cannot perform his Council duties without facing a conflict of interest almost daily.