Council members question colleague’s transparency, ethics over police station subcontract

by Kathleen Steele Gaivin

Aug. 6 city council meeting

Brecksville City Council Member Jack Petsche recused himself from a vote to amend the contract between the city and Prospectus Architecture to cover punch list items before the new police station project is complete, citing a relationship with police station builder Panzica Construction.

Other council members said this was the first they heard that Petche’s company, USA Roofing, had a subcontract with Panzica to roof the new facility.

Petsche said he signed the contract with Panzica before taking office in 2018. Since his contract is with the builder and not the city, he said he did not feel an obligation to notify council.

The contract came to light when Petsche asked if he had a conflict of interest and should abstain from the vote. He said he thought the ordinance would back charge Panzica. This was not the case, as the ordinance only deals with the architecture firm. Petsche confirmed that he does, through USA Roofing, have an interest in some of those punch list items.

Law Director David Matty advised Petsche to consult private legal counsel regarding whether a conflict exists, as Petsche has financially benefitted from the city’s payments to Panzica. He said Petsche’s lawyer should look into Ohio’s ethics laws.

“It is a serious legal issue,” Matty said.

“I called Mr. Matty several times, and he hadn’t returned my calls,” Petsche said. “He doesn’t return calls and then uses the opportunity to launch a political attack on me.”

Matty said council was “a little bit dumbfounded that they are finding out tonight from you; this is the first time you’ve talked to any of us about this.”

According to Matty, the city’s lawmakers should have been made aware of the contract that goes back to November 2017.

“I have sought legal counsel regarding this matter, probably a couple months ago,” Petsche said. “My legal counsel says that I did nothing wrong in regard to the police station.”

He said that according to his private counsel, court decisions support his view that subcontracts need not be disclosed.

“I thought that it was a private matter between Panzica and USA Roofing,” Petsche said. “That’s my interpretation of the law, and my legal counsel has interpreted the situation the same.”

He said he did not seek legal advice in fall 2017 when he was running for city council.

“As you know, I was new to this,” Petsche said. “I took office in January of ’18. I was unaware that this was such a big issue. I did look into the law back then myself, being an attorney.”

When questioned by Council Member Jerry Broski about ethics, Petsche stated that he did not consider the nondisclosure to be an ethics violation.

“The fact that Panzica works with the city does not make my contract a public contract,” Petsche said. “If my contract was with the city, then absolutely, you are correct. But since my contract was with Panzica … it is legally a private contract.”

Council Member Laura Redinger questioned what other contracts Petsche might have that the city doesn’t know about, to which he responded that there are none.

“Through all the fall discussions about Four Seasons [subdivision], a thing we talked about on a regular basis was transparency,” Redinger said, referring to council’s decision to approve a sewer-tax bailout for Four Seasons residents, including some council members. “There were plenty of insinuations that our team was being less than transparent. … You were leading the charge at that transparency narrative, and I am really just disgusted that you didn’t think it would be appropriate to share that you had a contract. We were all approving payments that were going to you personally to your company.”

Petsche countered that the city never made payments to his company.

“You were benefitting financially from a contract that the city has with Panzica,” Redinger said.

Council Member Dennis Rose said that whether Petsche’s actions were legal or not, “there is something called right and wrong. In my mind, you open your mouth and say, ‘Hey, I put the roof on.’”

The remaining six council members approved the contract modification with Prospectus Architecture to increase the design fee by $104,223, bringing the total for the new Brecksville police station to $865,878.

“This amendment No. 3 is due to the fact that their contract expired for this project on Dec. 31, 2018,” Purchasing Director Becki Riser said. “However, the punch list items continued into this calendar year.”

Service Director Ron Weidig said the project is going well.

“We’re down to just a few punch list items, electric and plumbing,” he said. “We expect within the next week the final paving going through.”

He said he expects the police department to begin occupancy just after Labor Day.

In other business, council authorized:

  • $3,619 to Gillespie Co. for year three of a three-year contract to provide annual services for backflow preventer inspections at 39 city locations.
  • $27,395 to Trane U.S. Inc. for phase 1 of the City Hall roof replacement and air handlers project.
  • $3,447 to PoolPak LLC for a replacement blower on the PoolPak at the Human Services Center.
  • $5,531 to Signal Service for the installation of a battery backup system to the existing traffic signal equipment at Brecksville and Wallings roads.
  • A grant application for $7,850 through the Firehouse Subs Safety Foundation, which would cover the cost of a forcible entry training door simulator for the fire department.