EMMITSBURG,
Md. – Emmitsburg’s former town planner has filed
an ethics complaint against Town Commissioner William B. O’Neil
Jr., accusing him of using his office for personal benefit,
lying to the commission and defaming town staff.
On
Feb. 1, former Emmitsburg Town Planner Michael Lucas sent
an ethics complaint to Emmitsburg Ethics Commission Chairman
Ted Brennan “outlining how Emmitsburg Town Commissioner
William B. O’Neil Jr. while serving as a Town Commissioner
did violate Section 2.32.030 of the Emmitsburg Municipal
Code (conflicts of interest) in an attempt to influence
public policy that would directly impact him as a private
citizen. Moreover, the complaint demonstrates how Commissioner
O’Neil did violate his oath of office, by providing
deliberate and demonstrably false testimony before officials
of the Town of Emmitsburg.
“Furthermore,
the complaint demonstrates how Commissioner O’Neil
engaged in a deliberate and malicious campaign designed
to undermine and injure the credibility of the Town’s
Planning and Zoning Department which had rightfully stood
in opposition to Mr. O’Neil’s attempts to subvert
the policy process.”
At
the core of the complaint is whether on-street parking should
be allowed in the Pembrook Woods Subdivision. O’Neil,
who lives in the subdivision, wants the restriction lifted,
but the town has consistently decided not to do so.
Lucas
states that O’Neil spoke in favor of lifting the restriction
at the July 2004 Emmitsburg Planning and Zoning Commission
meeting. Lucas wrote in his complaint, “In an attempt
to sway the Commission, Commissioner O’Neil stated
that guests at his house had on two separate occasions received
a total of 23 parking tickets issued by the Town of Emmitsburg,
a deliberate falsehood.”
Lucas
points out that a review of the tickets issued by the town
showed no tickets issued from the first Use and Occupancy
Permit to the date O’Neil made his statement. Further,
all tickets were accounted for and found to be in sequential
order.
In
response, Lucas cites a Dispatch article from September
2004, in which O’Neil said, “I would think the
town destroys them (once they are contested or rescinded).”
Then
in an Aug. 25, 2004 e-mail to Town Manager Dave Haller,
O’Neil wrote, “I would like to know why my residence
is apparently being targeted for the issuance of tickets.”
By
that time, the first ticket in Pembrook Woods had been issued
on Aug. 9.
Lucas
wrote in his complaint, “the conduct of Commissioner
O’Neil lies far outside the bounds of acceptable ethical
behavior…”
When
contacted by The Dispatch for a comment on the
complaint, O’Neil wrote in an e-mail, “It is
a violation of state and municipal ethics ordinances for
anyone, Mr. Lucas or myself, to comment in relation to a
complaint or review by the committee until the matter is
resolved.”
Calls
to Lucas and Brennan were not returned.
