When Mayor Marilyn Strickland announced in September a plan to spend city funds on a study to find out whether a renovated Tacoma Dome could bring professional sports to town, she singled out the city’s former public facilities director for helping her champion the cause.
“And while he’s here in the audience, I would like to acknowledge Mike Combs,” Strickland noted on Sept. 13, “...because he and I have been chatting about this for about a year and a half.”
Just 4 1/2 months into retirement at the time of the announcement, Combs was deeply immersed in the Dome project, leading an effort to round up big-name support to push for the publicly funded study.
But a News Tribune review of Tacoma’s city code signals a problem with Combs’ involvement in the project: It appears to violate ethics rules.
Under city code, former city employees are generally barred from participating in “matters involving the city” for a full year after leaving the city’s payroll. It’s a rule meant to guard against potential sweetheart deals that public servants-turned-private consultants could personally benefit from or orchestrate for others.
Combs, who now works as a private consultant, did not respond to three phone messages and two emails seeking comment for this story.
Strickland said Monday she wasn’t aware of the city’s ethics rules on post-employment activities. “I didn’t even check it,” she said.
The mayor added she plans to review the code and discuss the issue with the city attorney.
Strickland said she doesn’t believe Combs is being paid by the city or private interests.
“My indication is that he’s in the community working with the business folks, just trying to get support for the renovations,” she said.
Whether he is paid or volunteering doesn’t appear to matter. Tacoma’s ethics code doesn’t distinguish the issue.
City Attorney Elizabeth Pauli said Monday the ethics code “may be applicable” to Combs’ situation, but no one has asked her to evaluate whether he is violating ethics rules.
“I have not been asked to review the provision,” Pauli said. “It had not come to my attention.”
No formal complaint against Combs has been filed with the city’s Board of Ethics, City Clerk Doris Sorum said Monday. If a complaint is filed, the ethics board will review it to determine if an investigation is justified.
For several weeks leading up to Strickland’s presentation, Combs had worked privately to build local support to leverage the city’s buy-in for the market feasibility analysis of the city-owned Dome.
Among other things, Combs had coordinated a letter dated Aug. 22 sent to Strickland and Councilman Spiro Manthou. The letter was signed by Combs and 11 local business and political leaders, including Columbia Bank chief executive Melanie Dressel, state Rep. Connie Ladenburg and Cheney Foundation President Brad Cheney.
The letter formally asked the city to conduct a feasibility study “to engage the market and find the support for such an endeavor.”
Once the city pledged to foot at least half of the study’s estimated $100,000 cost, Combs turned to Pierce County for a similar contribution. In early October, he met with County Executive Pat McCarthy and other top county officials to make the pitch, which ultimately succeeded.
“Our impression (was) that he was acting as the point person for the city,” Pierce County spokesman Hunter George said last week when asked about Combs’ role.
It didn’t seem strange to county officials that the retired Combs would be acting on the city’s behalf, George added.
Some city observers say no current or former city employee has more knowledge than Combs of the Dome, the city’s iconic arena that opened in 1983.
Until his retirement in April, Combs, a 25-year city employee, had been responsible for the Dome’s operations as Tacoma’s public assembly facilities director. Hired in 1986 as an events manager, Combs kept his office in the Dome and worked on a variety of projects seeking to maintain, renovate and upgrade it over the years.
Aside from his recent discussions with Strickland to transform the aging Dome into an NBA-worthy facility, Combs had worked with a citizens’ group to promote an unsuccessful 2005 ballot measure seeking a $45 million bond sale for a Dome overhaul. When that plan failed, Combs was key in winning the City Council’s approval for a $2.7 million loan to make several interior upgrades.
Combs also didn’t hide his desire to see the Dome improved after he stepped down. Before he retired, he publicly stated his intentions to work as a consultant outside government to seek Dome renovations.
“The feasibility study is something that Mike had ideas about years ago,” city spokesman Rob McNair-Huff said last week. “It wasn’t just something that popped on the radar.”
But Combs’ past involvement with Dome renovation issues while a city employee appears to disqualify him from the current effort under ethics rules.
The city’s ethics code states a former employee is prohibited for one year after employment from assisting “any person in matters involving the City if, while in the course of duty with the City, the former City officer or employee was officially involved in the matter or personally and substantially participated in the matter or acted on the matter.”
It’s not unusual for local and state governments to impose restrictions on former workers’ post-employment activities with the governments for which they previously worked.
Such laws are “put in place to make sure the public doesn’t think former public servants are trading on their relationships,” said Wayne Barnett, executive director of Seattle’s Ethics and Elections Commission. “You can’t use your inside knowledge or relationship with city officials to benefit a private party or feather your own nest.”
The City of Seattle restricts former employees from participating in certain city activities for one or two years, depending on the type of involvement. The State of Washington also generally imposes a one-year ban on former employees’ activities in state matters.
Tacoma’s ethics code also says a former employee cannot for a year “represent any person as an advocate” in any city matter he had been involved with while an employee, nor can he “participate as or with a bidder, vendor, or consultant in any competitive selection process for a City contract” on such matters.
With support from Strickland and other council members, the city has agreed to pay for at least $50,000 to hire a consultant to conduct the Dome feasibility study. Meantime, Pierce County and the Tacoma-Pierce County Economic Development Board have committed $25,000 and $5,000 to the project, respectively.
The study will seek to determine what renovations are needed – and at what cost – for the Dome to host a professional basketball or hockey team. It will also seek to find out if corporate interest exists to support such a venture.
Rob Henson, who has served as Tacoma’s interim facilities director since Combs retired, said last week he’s now in the process of writing a formal bid request to find a consultant to conduct the study.
“This is a priority,” Henson said. “My goal is to have this thing put together and on the street by the end of the year.”
While finalizing the bid proposal, Henson said he hasn’t consulted with Combs, his former boss. “The mayor brought this (project) to us,” Henson said. “So, I’m really working in conjunction with her and the city manager.”
Pauli, the city attorney, said before she could evaluate the propriety of Combs’ involvement, interim City Manager Rey Arellano would have to assign her to review it.
“If I was tasked to it, I would first want to understand what (Combs’) involvement in the project is and then evaluate it against the language in the code,” she said.
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542 lewis.kamb@thenewstribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.