(VANCOUVER, Wash.) — The Vancouver City Council meeting on October 26, 2026, was marked by some public scrutiny over an ethics complaint against Councilor Diana Perez, which some critics felt was mishandled and prematurely dismissed by the city attorney.
Photo Credit: CVTV
Reform Clark County Founder Rob Anderson filed an ethics complaint on October 6, charging that Councilor Perez voted in 2025 for taxpayer money to be given to Fourth Plain Forward (FPF), while she also applied for and received a personal business loan from FPF.
During public testimony, Margaret Tweet commented on the ethics complaint against Councilor Perez, arguing the city attorney prematurely dismissed it without following policy 136's requirement to first determine if allegations, if true, would show a violation.
She cited specific instances where Perez allegedly voted on CDBG funds that later benefited her business through a micro-grant from Fourth Plain Forward and failed to disclose or recuse herself. She urged for an independent investigation, emphasizing the 'appearance of impropriety' standard.
“Please follow the city rules more closely and send this complaint to an independent investigator,” Tweet said. “I share the concerns expressed by the complainant, who filed a complaint and asked the city [to] address this matter with due diligence.”
Rob Anderson, as the filer of the ethics complaint, testified virtually before the council. He accused the city attorney of exceeding her authority by conducting an unauthorized investigation and reinterpreting the complaint, rather than strictly following policy 136.
Anderson highlighted the disparity between his case and Council member Harless's earlier complaint, which was referred to an outside investigator. He urged the council to protect its integrity by referring the complaint to an independent investigator.
“The appearance of impropriety has no meaning unless the city attorney decides to selectively investigate you,” Anderson said. “Protect the integrity of your office. Follow the policy the same way you did with Council Member Harless. Refer this complaint to an outside investigator.”
Photo Credit: CVTV
Councilor Perez recused herself before the city attorney report and council deliberation.
City Attorney Nena Cook gave an overview of what led to her recommendation.
“My job is to review the complaint and all the supplemental materials and submit this report to council with the recommendation. The complaint, including those supplemental materials on their face, alleged facts that, if true, would not substantiate a violation of the policy,” Cook said.
“Assuming the allegations in the complaint and all the supplemental materials are true, as I must, city Council Member Perez did not have a direct or indirect benefit to the City Council's contract, with Fourth Plain Forward for $100,000 in CDBG grant funds because, again, her company did not receive any portion of those dollars.”
The city attorney concluded her remarks by making her recommendation to the council and explaining their options.
“I make a recommendation to Council, which is to dismiss the complaint and take no further action. The next step is for council under section 9.09.0, you are charged with reviewing my report and recommendation and deciding. If you would like to review, refer the allegations to an outside investigator or dismiss the complaint. And if you dismiss the complaint, that means council will take no further action on the on the complaint,” Cook said.
Councilor Sarah Fox expressed her wish that her colleagues would follow her example of over-disclosing themselves if there appears to be any possibility of a complaint.
“Any awards to an agency that could eventually benefit you could be something that looks problematic for, for example, if I was a business owner and I was hoping that, a credit union was going to be favorably providing me a loan if the city or commerce was going to turn around and provide that credit union with a line of funding for small businesses, I would, out of an extreme amount of caution, recuse myself from that decision on that credit union,” Fox said.
After a period of deliberation, the council voted unanimously to dismiss the complaint without further action.
No further information was available at the time of publication.
To add to or correct any information in this report, please email me at rory.h@lead4earth.org.
0
0
Comments