Pima County supervisors Ramon Valadez, Sharon Bronson, and Steve Christy have been hit with an Open Meeting Law violation complaint. The supervisors received a letter from the Arizona Attorney General’s Office advising them that the matter is under investigation.
The issue of whether supervisors can retain outside counsel to address the complaint is on Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting agenda.
[Read Arizona Attorney General Letter] and [Read Mia Tittle complaint]
“I have placed an item on the Oct 2nd, 2018 agenda requesting outside counsel as related to an Open Meeting law complaint that is being investigated by Attorney General Brnovich’s office. I have documentation and will also be providing a statement to the Attorney General Office related to the complaint filed against fellow supervisors on the Board,” said Supervisor Ally Miller.
At issue is a complaint filed by Pima County District 1 resident, Mia Tittle. Tittle, along with all other residents of District 1 became victims of Valadez, Christy, and Bronson when the supervisors coordinated their vote to deny desperately needed road repairs in the District.
At the December 19, 2017 meeting, the supervisors approved a motion by Supervisor Steve Christy to reconsider a vote cast at the December 12, 2017 meeting in support of a small pavement preservation project for a handful of the County’s crumbling roads.
Christy sought the new vote in order to replace the County staff’s recommended plan for his district to one his office devised.
Despite the fact that Miller’s volunteer representatives in the project planning process offered recommended changes to County staff’s plan, Christy only offered a motion in support of his changes.
At the time, according to Miller, Christy had admitted to coordinating with other supervisors in plotting the reconsideration vote. Coordinating votes is illegal. Christy denied the coordination, but witnesses are expected to refute his claim.
In February 2018, at a meeting of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, resident Mia Tittle advised the supervisors that she planned to file a complaint against the supervisors for “flagrantly biased, secretive procedures in making reactionary political decisions about transportation resource distribution.”