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BILLBARNETT
MAYOR

July 24, 2018
Mr. Raymond Christman
267 6th Street North

Via U. S. Mail and E-mail (christmanr@bellsouth. net)

Naples, FL 34102
Dear Mr. Christman,

At the direction of the Naples City Council, a letter dated June 20, 2018, was sent to you
regarding an alleged violation of the City of Naples Code of Ethics ordinance. As you had
not responded, a follow up letter was sent on July 9, 2018. In your response letter, and in a
subsequent e-mail to Ethics Naples followers, you attack me personally for informing you of
the allegation. The record should be clear, the letters were sent at the direction of City
Council, not solely of my own accord.

In any event, the purpose of this letter is to confirm receipt of your response dated July 19,
2018 and inform you that City Council will consider the allegation and response, and take
appropriate action, if any, at the Council meeting to be held on September 5, 2018. Actions

may include referral of this matter for investigation, your removal from the Community
Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board, or other action allowed by city ordinance. You do
have the right to appear before Council at that time to defend yourself.
The allegation stems from your appearance before City Council on May 2, 2018, personally
speaking on behalf of Ethics Naples, Inc. to urge adoption of a resolution to place a charter

amendment on the ballot. At the time of the appearance, you were a public officer serving
on the Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board. This conduct appears to be a
violation of the Naples Code of Ethics ordinance, Sec. 2-974 (d)(2) [emphasis added]:
"While serving as a public officer or employee, no public officer or employee
shall personally represent another person, group, or business entity before the
governmental body. This provision, however, is not intended to preclude and shall
not preclude an elected officer or advisory board member from interacting with and

coordinating with city staffas part of such elected officer's or advisory board member's
representation of another person, group or business entity in the normal course of

building permit applications, interpretations from staff relating to construction codes,
conversations with staffrelating to construction codes and similarfunctions conducted
in the normal course of business. An elected officer or advisory board member shall
not, however, be permitted_tc)^pursue__a_ land use or land development order or
P.O. BOX 3535 NAPLES.FL34106

TELEPHONE(239) 213 1003 FAX (239) 213-1010 CELL(239) 777-7952
EMAIL: Mayorbill@iiaplesgov. com

 represent, another person, group or business entity, in a land use or land development
process."

In an e-mail exchange between the City Attorney and you on December 19, 2017, City
Attorney Pritt informed you of the Ethics Law provision in question:

"You are representing the PAC called Ethics Naples. Attached is an excerpt of the
current Ethics Code for the City concerning:

-continuing or frequently recurring conflicts (d) (1) (which is essentially the same as
state law), and

-restrictions against board members appearing before Council (d)(2) (which is City
Code).

I assume you want to be aware of this (especially (2)) ahead of time. We have had
persons appointed to boards who believed that they could appear before Council on
other items, only to find that they could not."
You responded:

"Dear Bob:
Thank you for your e-mail describing these potential concerns regarding my serving
on the CRAAB and simultaneously continuing my role with Ethics Naples. Candidly, I
had not previously thought of this as a potential conflict, given that Ethics Naples was
an independent non-profit concerned with a referendum" in next year's election, while
the CRAAB involved ongoing issues facing the City and City Council. Nonetheless, I
think it is important that there not be even a perception of conflict of interest on an
appointment like this, and its potential impact on Ethics Naples. The issue is not with
my ability to appear before Council on any matter, but more broadly any perceptions
that positions I might take on the CRAAB would be influenced by my role with Ethics
Naples. I therefore would like to withdraw my application to serve on the CRAAB."

The prohibition in Section 2-974 (d)(2) was not created to frustrate you or Ethics Naples, Inc.
This section has been in the Naples Ethics ordinance for about 20 years. This is a serious
matter. The allegation, if true, is a breach of the public trust. Despite the assertions made
by you and Ethics Naples, Inc., City Council takes ethics seriously. Our system of
representative government depends, in part, on the people maintaining the highest trust in
their officialsand employees, including advisory board members appointed as public officers.
The confidence and trust of the people is eroded when the conduct of city business is subject
to improper influence or even the appearance of improper influence.
Sincer ly,

^/
Bill Barnet,

City of Naples

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