No conflict here

The state Fair Political Practices Commission has weighed in on the legalities of a $400,000 grant from Pacific Gas and Electric Co. aimed at helping Chico homeowners make their houses more energy efficient. The grant request was written in part by two of the city’s Sustainability Task Force members, who were subsequently awarded contracts from that grant.

Jon Stallman, who was appointed to the task force by Mayor Ann Schwab to represent Butte College, got $60,000, and member Scott McNall, representing Chico State, was awarded a $10,000 contract. The contracts were designed to help educate homeowners and create a workforce trained in the ways of energy efficiency.

The FPPC, in response to an inquiry from City Attorney Lori Barker, says it does not appear that STF members meet the definition of “public officials” under the state’s Political Reform Act, and as such there is no conflict of interest.

“The test is whether the task force has independently influenced an agency with power,” said Barker. In this case the agency with power is the City Council.

“I focused on recommendations [STF] has made since it was formed and the council’s reactions. There’s nothing really that they have done independently.”

City Councilman Mark Sorensen disagrees. He says Barker’s inquiry did not detail or even mention the PG&E grant. He said he thinks there is clearly a conflict of interest here.

“We are talking about the PG&E program which [the task force] completely drove,” he said. “The council never approved it; the task force just did it.”

Sorensen said a few years ago, when a vote came before the council on whether to allow a disc-golf course in Hooker Oak Park, he couldn’t vote on the matter.

“I just barely lived within 500 feet of the park, and this [vote] could in theory have an impact on the value of my house,” he said. If that’s a conflict, he said, how is the PG&E grant with its subsequent contracts not?

Barker sent her inquiry to the FPPC on Dec. 21 and received her reply Jan. 26. Sorensen sent his own requests for information to the FPPC on Dec. 28 and Jan. 9, detailing the PG&E grant and related contracts. He said he is still awaiting a response.

“The program itself is not the issue,” he said. “It was the process. Who knows how this might end up? I guess we’ll find out eventually.”

Schwab, who helped create and chairs the STF, said Sorensen is misguided in his efforts and that she was pleased with the FPPC response sent to Barker.

“Well, it reassures me that the task force was operating as it should and was not outside the guidelines for the FPPC,” she said. “I’m appalled that Mark went ahead with his requests from the FPPC before the city attorney had a chance to do the proper research. Now I feel like the good work Jon Stallman and Scott McNall have performed has been tainted in the community.

“They are creating jobs, training the workforce, and saving everyday people money by lowering their electric bills. Mark is looking at things in isolation—he needs to see the bigger picture.”