DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – An alderwoman is asking the city if she has a conflict of interest in voting on plans for a $19 million hotel project.
An item was added to Wednesday’s committee-of-the-whole agenda.
The 3rd Ward representative made the request after online posts questioned if her previous consulting work with hotel developer Pete Stopulos should prevent her from voting on Riverwatch Place.
Riverwatch Place, a mixed-use hotel and business space, would fill the empty lot at 3rd Street and River Drive.
At Tuesday’s weekly meeting, where the mayor and council review upcoming city and council matters, city administrator Doug Maxeiner announced that the council will first address a potential conflict before discussing Riverwatch Place at their meeting the following night.
Council members could motion for a vote to disqualify Meginnis on Wednesday.
Disqualification would require a majority of the council, six, to pass.
Recently, online postings have called into question the right of Alderwoman Meginnis to vote on the Resolution relating to the Development Agreement for Riverwatch Place. For more than ten years, and prior to her election to City Council, Alderwoman Meginnis has worked as an independent historic tax credit (HTC) consultant through her LLC Davenport Historic Preservation Consulting LLC. During this time, she has been hired by developers, including Mr. Pete Stopulos, the developer of Riverwatch Place, to provide HTC consulting and tax credit applications for various projects. The Riverwatch Place development is not an HTC project. Since being elected to City Council in August 2017, Alderwoman Meginnis has abstained from voting on any City business relating to state or federal historic tax credits for which she has provided services. Believing that the posting has created questions for the voting body and the public, and a distraction to Council business, Alderwoman Meginnis has invoked her right in accordance with Section 2 of the Davenport Elected Officials Code of Conduct (Resolution 2024-402), adopted on September 25, 2024, to “disclose the facts involved and request a determination by the entire City Council of whether a conflict of interest exists.”
On Dec. 12, the vote to approve the deal with developer Pete Stopulos was postponed until Wednesday.
Stopulos spoke with TV6 after it was postponed, saying he hoped it would pass.
In November, the project failed to pass by one vote. At the beginning of December, the project was discussed again.
Code of Conduct
Sec. 2. Conflicts of Interest Prohibiting Elected Official’s Action
To assure their independence and impartiality on behalf of the common good, members shall not use their official positions to influence government decisions for their own private gain or the gain of persons or organizations with which they are associated personally, which may give the appearance of a conflict of interest. This does not preclude a member acting in their official capacity from serving on a board.
When a conflict of interest, apparent conflict of interest, appearances of conflict of interest, or potential conflict of interest occurs as described in this document or by operation of Iowa law with respect to an elected official on a matter before the City Council, the member is required to recuse himself, or herself, and is prohibited from deliberation, voting, or participating in any way on the matter under consideration. Participation includes, without limitation, a member making known his or her preferences on the matter or discussing the matter with other members or City staff, whether prior to, during or after the meeting where matter comes before the City Council.
In accordance with the law, no member shall participate in the disposition of any matter in which he or she is interested. For purposes of this section “interested” means any direct or indirect financial or personal interest held by a member or member of his/her immediate family in accordance with Iowa Code 68B.2(11). Before any matter is considered by the City Council, a member having an interest shall disclose the existence of a conflict of interest and withdraw from participation on the matter; alternatively, he/she may disclose the facts involved and request a determination by the entire City Council of whether a conflict of interest exists. Any question of the existence or non-existence of a conflict of interest sufficient to disqualify a member from participating in the consideration any matter, when the member has not already recused him/herself, shall be decided by a majority vote, six (6), of the other members of the City Council. A question regarding the existence of a conflict of interest of a member may be placed on the agenda, of either a regular scheduled or special meeting, by any two members of the City Council.
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