CITY CODE EXCERPTSCity Code 2-751: "For purposes of Sections 2-752 and 2-753, 'personal interest' means ... (b) Any financial, ownership, or employment interest in a matter to be regulated or supervised; or (c) Any such financial, ownership, or employment interest of the official's or employee's ... sibling(s) ... or stepchild(ren)."City Code 2-753: "An official of employee who must exercise discretion relative to any matter ... and who has a personal interest in the matter that affects or that would lead a reasonable person to infer that it affects the exercise of discretion shall disclose ... the interest ... with the recorder. In addition, the official or employee shall not participate in any way on matters in which they have a personal interest."Source: Chattanooga City CodeCITY BUSINESSRay Marler owns several companies that conduct business with the city. They are:Environmental Materials LLCChattanooga Transfer LLCCity Disposal Services LLCSource: City recordsDOCUMENTSPDF: Memos concerning Jimmy Templeton and possible city code violations
Jimmy Templeton, Chattanooga's director of citywide services, is under investigation because a city audit found he was directly invested in city contracts with a company that employed three of his relatives, the Times Free Press has learned.
City Attorney Mike McMahan could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But City Auditor Stan Sewell said Wednesday he had forwarded his information to the city attorney's office, which is responsible for employee conduct issues.
City spokesman Richard Beeland said the city attorney has opened an investigation into the allegations. Templeton could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The City Council will address the issue in two weeks in a Public Works Committee meeting.
Sewell stated in a memo that he found that Templeton's brother, stepdaughter and son-in-law all worked for Ray Marler, owner of Environmental Materials LLC, Chattanooga Transfer LLC and City Disposal Services LLC. The relatives were not identified in the audit.
All three companies have contracts with the city. Environmental Materials LLC, which runs a private landfill next to the city's Birchwood landfill, provides dirt for the city's landfill and provides an employee to operate the weight scale.
Chattanooga Transfer LLC hauls trash for the city from a transfer station on Wisdom Street to the landfill. City Disposal Services LLC picks up large and small containers of garbage for the city.
Templeton also was directly involved in the bidding process for the three companies by being the companies' direct contact with the city, Sewell said.
Sewell's memo said there is an appearance of bid manipulation when it comes to the contracts with Marler's companies.
Marler could not be reached for comment.
The memo also stated that city employees had received gifts from Marler, which is also a code violation.
Sewell said he did not know exactly what the gifts were, but that Marler had told him they were "small gifts" usually given around the holidays. Sewell said that would be a matter for the city attorney to investigate as well.
Lee Norris, deputy administrator for the city's Department of Public Works, said he could not comment because of the ongoing investigation.
Pam Ladd, chairwoman of the City Council's Public Works Committee, said more light would be shed on the issue in two weeks when the council discusses the facts behind the case. She said there are questions about whether Templeton was in the position he now holds while the contracts were being negotiated.
"There's a timing issue," she said. "All these questions should be answered in a couple of weeks."
During Sewell's audit, his office specifically examined the time frame, he said, adding that there is no question that Templeton was the contact during the bidding procedures and that he was the director of the Citywide Services Department at the time.
"The times overlap," Sewell said.
The city's Audit Committee began investigating the latest allegations two months ago. The committee wrote a letter to the council, saying the city faces "exposure" in continuing the contracts with Marler. A continued lack of oversight by the city at the Birchwood landfill could mean an "opportunity for Mr. Marler's companies to profit unreasonably at the expense of city taxpayers," the committee wrote.
The city auditor has scrutinized Marler's companies several times over the last two years. A 2008 audit showed the city's Birchwood landfill and a private landfill next door owned by Marler shared the same weight scale, which left open the risk of a third party collecting city cash.
The audit blasted the lack of control since an employee of Marler's was charged with handling city responsibilities.
The city later placed a camera at the site to monitor the situation.
Last March, a Times Free Press investigation showed the city was taking dirt from the private landfill and putting it on the city's landfill without a contract, which could have opened the city up to potential liability problems.
Over the summer, Sewell drafted an informal audit, saying that contracts with Environmental Materials LLC and Chattanooga Transfer LLC could have violated city code because of the length of the contracts and improper bidding.
The city has since renegotiated several of the contracts.
Contact Cliff Hightower at chightower@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6480. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CliffHightower.