2 Kennewick councilmen file ethics complaint against another. City isn’t saying who

The city of Kennewick has a brand new ethics policy and its first official complaint against a current council member.

The city would not say who filed the complaint or which councilman is accused of violated the policy.

The move comes just days after the council hired Kennewick attorney Tom Atwood to serve as its $240-an-hour ethics officer on an as-needed basis.

It takes at least two city council members to make a formal complaint against another under a policy adopted this fall. The complaint is then referred to the ethics officer to investigate.

Depending on the ethics officer’s conclusions, the council can issue reprimands, sanctions, remove the council member from boards and commissions or even level a civil fine up to $1,000.

City officials declined to release any information about the complaint on Friday.

On Tuesday, the city council publicly discussed complaints it received about a phone call that Councilman John Trumbo made to a citizen who bought the Canyon Lakes home of Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick.

Trumbo told fellow council members that he identified himself to the woman as both a retired Tri-City Herald reporter and city councilman, but said it was to clarify why his name might sound familiar to a stranger.

Trumbo said he told her he was acting as a private citizen and not a council member.

During the October phone call, he asked questions about the house, repairs, a mechanic’s lien, the sale and the assessed value.

Trumbo declined to say why he was asking about the routine property sale. The council discussed the complaints by Brown and the buyer, but took no action on Tuesday.

In April, the council sanctioned Trumbo and removed him from board and committee assignments through 2019 for “misuse of office” after he used his city council business card during an unauthorized investigation into unfounded rumors involving Mayor Pro Tem Steve Lee.

The council has not publicly discussed Mayor Don Britain, who was recently fired from his job as a case worker for the state. A Washington State Patrol investigated his inappropriate relationship with a welfare client.

He allowed the young woman and her two children to move into his apartment but Britain said the relationship was neither personal nor sexual. He has denied any wrongdoing.

This story was originally published November 9, 2019 at 3:26 PM.