Preston taking heat for potential conflict of interest
Sep. 1—NEWBURYPORT — A city councilor is taking heat from some of her colleagues after failing to disclose a potential conflict of interest earlier this week.
Ward 5 Councilor Jim McCauley co-sponsored, along with council President Heather Shand, zoning amendments to regulate the city's short-term rental units in specific districts.
The council was scheduled to vote on the issue this past Monday, Aug. 29., but voted instead to continue the matter until Sept. 12, after City Councilor at large Connie Preston submitted a list of amendments which would, among other things, offer amnesty to investor-owned properties.
The City Council then received an email from a Beck Street resident on Tuesday, letting it know about a property Preston's husband, Thomas Godbout, has listed on vrbo.com as a short-term rental on Riverside Drive in Newbury.
The resident questioned Preston's personal financial interest in short-term rental units and asked in his email that the council disclose any financial interests members may have with short-term rental units.
Preston said Thursday that she did not think her husband's property would represent a conflict of interest since she does not own the home and it is not located in the city.
"It's in Newbury, not Newburyport, and the deed and mortgage are only in his name. All of the expenses for it are managed through accounts with only his name on them. I never thought this would need to be disclosed because of the fact that I didn't think it was a conflict of interest, given that it is not a Newburyport and it is not my property," she said.
Preston added she disclosed information about the property with City Clerk Richard Jones and also filed with the state Ethics Commission on Wednesday. Jones confirmed both filings on Thursday.
"I felt that the disclosure would be a good thing to do, just to make sure that this is as clean as possible. I've already told all of the councilors about it, as well as the individual who wrote the email," Preston said.
Ward 2 Councilor Jennie Donahue, however, read the resident's concerns and said she would have disclosed such as issue "as soon as it hit our agenda."
"If I thought, for a second, that it could even be conceived as a conflict of interest, I would have disclosed it and have called the Ethics Commission immediately," she said.
Donahue also said she was concerned that Preston did not disclose the issue until after the resident's email.
"It may not be a conflict of interest because it is not in our city but there is certainly the question of confidence because it only came up after someone else brought it to our attention," she said.
McCauley also said he wished Preston had been more transparent.
"As a councilor, we are obligated to avoid conflicts of interest and, or the appearance of. This information coming to light at the 11th hour impugns all of us," he said.
McCauley added the council will also need to question Preston's motives when presenting her amendments.
Preston said McCauley had reached out to her and told her she should recuse herself from the Sept. 12 vote and said she had no plans to do so.
"Councilor McCauley has a right to his opinion. But, if the state sees no reason for me to recuse myself, then I see no reason to recuse myself," she said.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.
