Lincoln City files ethics complaint against mayor

Lincoln City’s City Council has filed a state ethics complaint against Mayor Donald Williams, alleging he advocated repeal of an ordinance that might have hurt him financially.

Williams denied violating any ethics laws, calling the complaint “overkill.”

“I was just elected in January. I’ve never been an elected official before. I’m just going, ‘Ok, I don’t even know how to respond to this,’” he said.

The complaint filed Aug. 21 with the Oregon Government Ethics Commission alleges he violated Oregon law by acting on a conflict of interest and using his public office for financial gain.

The 26-page complaint said Williams’ financial stake in his spouse’s vacation home rental business, his alleged violation of vacation rental zoning ordinances resulting in potential fines and actions to repeal those ordinances or curtail their enforcement constitute an ethics violation.

“I may have done something incorrectly, but I didn’t do anything wrong. There was no criminal intent, no one trying to get over on anyone. I wasn’t trying to line my pockets,” Williams said.

The complaint centers on Lincoln City’s “accessory use” restrictions limiting how many nights per year properties may be rented as a vacation home in residential areas. According to Oregon secretary of state records, Williams’ wife, Debbie Williams, is the registered agent and manager of Genesis Family LLC which owns three “vacation rental dwellings” in a Lincoln City residential area. Donald Williams is listed as a Genesis Family LLC owner on a city vacation rental application dated 2010.

When he was Lincoln City planning commissioner, Donald Williams recused himself from vacation rental hearings, “acknowledging his family’s interest in the Genesis property,” the complaint said.

The complaint said the Genesis vacation house was limited to 150 nights of rentals per year, but went over that limit in 2014 with 171 nights. Lincoln City has per-night fines for exceeding the limit.

The ethics complaint said that while mayor and facing potential financial harm from fines regarding the Genesis property, Williams participated in Lincoln City executive sessions in support of repealing vacation rental zoning ordinances as well as discussions about grace periods for ordinance violations.

If the ordinances were enforced, Williams could have been made to pay a fine and may have been forced to limit rental nights at his property, causing potential financial harm. Lincoln City later rezoned an area including Williams’ properties, meaning he will not face fines.

The complaint also alleges Williams “appears to have shared confidential information regarding enforcement with his wife.”

During a March 9 executive session, attorney Richard Appicello protested Williams’ involvement in city policy over vacation rentals.

“And it didn’t sit right with me that the mayor was asking about that because I know the mayor has a VRD [vacation rental dwelling] and I’ve done the numbers relative to the mayor’s VRD. And I know the mayor’s number of days rented exceeds the land use approval days,” Appicello said in transcribed comments included within the ethics complaint.

Williams responded later during the meeting that his involvement in ordinance discussions was benign.

“I am so completely offended, beyond words, that there is even an idea I did it for a gain,” he said, according to the transcript. “It was brought up just like any other question I’ve had.”

The state ethics commission’s director, Ronald Bersin , said the case is in preliminary review. The next action by the commission in this case is scheduled for Oct. 23.

gfriedman2@statesmanjournal.com, (503) 399-6653 or on Twitter @gordonrfriedman