Ethics charge tossed

Published 9:50pm Tuesday, January 24, 2012

A letter of complaint filed by the State of Alabama Ethics Commission against Valley Grande councilwoman Donna Downs inquiring about a monetary donation to Dallas County High School has been found to have no merit.
During a Valley Grande City Council meeting earlier this month, Downs, who is also employed as a bookkeeper for the high school, presented the letter to the council stating the commission was to perform a preliminary inquiry concerning a $5,000 donation the council approved to give. The commission said the act was a violation.
Valley Grande Mayor Tom Lee said Downs informed him of the letter of complaint in December. Lee believes Downs, was wrongfully accused.
“She evidently was singled out, I’m not sure why, for an ethics violation that actually applies to at least one other member of the council and possibly another,” Lee said.
The commission responded to Downs in a letter dated Dec. 28, 2011, informing her that based on the information she provided, it was closing the file in the matter.
The commission, Lee said, did not go into an investigation of the matter.
“It was interesting to see the results come back,” Lee said during the meeting. “Donna works at a school where we voted through a budget in a lump sum to make a donation … we waited until now to find out the results. They have determined that this is not a violation, that … Donna (wasn’t) eligible for any sort of financial benefit … through any action she made on the council.”
In her letter addressed to Hugh R. Evans III, general counsel of the State of Alabama-Ethics Commission, Downs said the city budget includes appropriations in the form of donations to each public school for which residents of Valley Grande are lawfully zoned.
“The donations are for Valley Grande Elementary School, Martin Middle and Dallas County High School,” Downs said in the letter. “For a number of years, the donations have been approved in a line item budget lump sum identified as ‘schools.’”
This year’s donation, Downs continued, was a total of $15,000, with the sum being divided into a $5,000 increment to the three schools. Once the budget is approved by the council, Downs said, the mayor makes the decision of when each donation should be released based on fund availability and needs of the school.
Downs stated in the letter that she was not paid by Dallas County High School and therefore had no control over how funds are spent.
“My payroll check comes from the Dallas County Board of Education,” Downs said. “I am not, as your letter states, employed by Dallas County High School but actually I am an employee of the Dallas County Board of Education and assigned to bookkeeper at Dallas County High School.”
Downs said she and another council member have grandchildren that attend one of the schools scheduled to receive a donation. Downs said she asked Lee to withhold the donation to the school until the ethics issue was resolved.

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