NEWINGTON — Almost two weeks after levying new ethics charges against Democratic Mayor Stephen Woods, Republicans apparently have yet to file a complaint with the town’s ethics board.
Woods said Monday that he has not been notified of a complaint, as would be required under the town’s ethics ordinance. Ethics board alternate Rose Lyons and Jamie Trevethan, executive assistant to Town Manager John Salomone, also said they were unaware of any complaint.
“No complaint has been filed through this office,” Trevethan said Monday.
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GOP Councilwoman Beth DelBuono, who is running against Woods, and Republican Town Committee Chairman Neal Forte did not return messages Monday.
Woods, who challenged the GOP to file an ethics complaint at the last council meeting, repeated his charge that the allegations are a “witch hunt.”
“It’s politics, that’s all this is,” he said. “They want to make every thing I do look dirty. I believe that’s sad.”
The GOP’s latest ethics allegations are that:
Woods failed to notify the board that his business, Stonehedge Landscaping, worked on the 2011 Clem Lemire Field artificial turf field project or disqualify himself before voting in 2012 to close out the work;
Woods met as mayor with the builders of the Victory Gardens housing project at the Newington Veterans Hospital without disclosing to the board that his company was a contractor on the project;
Woods may have filed a required town ethics disclosure late;
Woods voted to appoint four family members or employees to various town boards and commissions.
Woods called his June 2012 vote to close out the Clem Lemire work a technicality. He confirmed that Stonehedge was a subcontractor, being asked at the last minute to seed the areas surrounding the artificial turf field. His company was paid about $9,000 for the work, he said.
Stonehedge did the work in 2011 before Woods became mayor.
Woods’ brother Don Woods, co-owner of Stonehedge, was a member of the building committee for turf field. Don Woods missed the meeting at which the committee chose the contractor for the $1 million-plus project, meeting minutes show.
Don Woods was out of town Monday and unavailable for comment.
Woods confirmed that Stonehedge installed the landscaping for the Victory Gardens project, but said that he was under no obligation to disclose that work to the council. He spoke to the Victory Gardens developers in his separate capacity as mayor, he said.
“There’s no business between the town of Newington and Victory Gardens as far as the town council,” Woods said. “There’s no reason to disclose that.”
The ethics code requires the mayor, councilmen and other appointed and elected officials to file a disclosure of any real estate and business holdings that “may impinge on town affairs” within 90 days of taking office.
Woods dated his disclosure form Jan. 12, 2103, more than a year after he took office. The form, however, bears a town clerk date stamp of Jan. 12, 2012, less than 90 days after Woods became mayor.
In materials handed out by Republicans, they questioned the filing’s timing. But Woods said that he made an error.
“I wrote the wrong date,” he said. “The date stamp is the correct date.”
Asked about the filing, Town Clerk Tanya Lane said, “We don’t tamper with date stamps. We correct our mistakes.”
Regarding appointments, the ethics code sections cited by the GOP do not specifically prohibit council members from voting to appoint people with whom they have family or business ties.
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