Borough President Marty Markowitz said this week that depending on the results of a determination by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, his appointee to the City Planning Commission will either have to divest of her interest in the New Jersey Nets or resign from the commission.

Markowitz said he had expected to hear from the conflicts board on Oct. 1, but at press time no determination had been handed down.
His comments, made during a question-and-answer session at the Park Slope Food Co-op last Saturday, marked the first time the borough president directly addressed the notion that Williams might have to step down.

Williams, who for 25 years has owned A. Williams Trucking and Trenching with her husband, Adonijah Williams, is among the long list of investors in developer Bruce Ratner’s Nets basketball team. Her ownership status was revealed by The Brooklyn Papers in August.

Though no evidence has been found as to when she and her husband purchased their share in the Nets — estimated to be worth about $1 million — Markowitz asserted this week that it was purchased long before the plans by Ratner’s company, Forest City Ratner, were made public. Those plans include construction of a 19,000-seat arena for the Nets, 4,500 residential units, a plethora of retail space and 17 office towers reaching as high as 60 stories on more than 21 acres of public and privately held land stretching into Prospect Heights from the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues.

“When I appointed Dolly Williams, this project wasn’t even a thought in my head or in anybody’s head,” Markowitz said at the food co-op on Union Street on Oct. 2. He said he didn’t have the power to force her off the commission, but that pending a determination by the Conflicts of Interest Board, he might have to enforce a recommended decision.

“If the conflicts of interest board rules that she has a role,” said Markowitz, “it will be determined that she either has to disinvest or resign.”

In an uncharacteristically frank statement about this controversy, he said he couldn’t help Williams keep her position if she disagreed with the ruling.

“If they rule that she does, I need someone who can serve without that hanging over their heads,” he said.

Williams declined to comment for this article.

The Conflicts of Interest board, whose officials have stated that they are bound to confidentiality in all cases, even those involving public officials, was unable to confirm any information regarding the Williams inquiry. Not even the complainant will be notified one way or the other, he said.

While Davies said completion of typical investigations “have taken between a month and two years,” in cases that don’t require much digging, they usually offer advice to the involved parties in addition to their enforcement role.

“We have no power to remove a person from office,” he said, but contradicting Markowitz’s statement, Davies told The Papers, “Whoever has the authority to appoint someone has the power to remove them.”

Usually, he said, the person under investigation will be notified about indiscretions by the board. “If our board, for example, believes that a person in City Council is acting in violation of the law, they’ll probably be told that, if not by us, then by the Department of Investigations.”

“You could have, for example, someone who’s working for an outside firm that’s doing business with our own agency. We’ll find that in violation of Chapter 68 of the [City] Charter,” he said. In such cases, Davies said, the board would notify the subject of the investigation but not make it public.

“If we conveyed something to Ms. Williams or Marty Markowitz or the people involved they’d be free to share it, but we wouldn’t be free to share it,” said the conflicts board chief.

A complaint against Williams for her ownership in the Nets was lodged Aug. 26 by the anti-arena group Develop-Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB).

In a letter filed with Davies, Daniel Goldstein, a spokesman for DDDB, wrote that Williams’ investment in the team was a violation of Chapter 68 of the City Charter, and by serving on the commission as it reviewed the Downtown Brooklyn Development Plan’s changes in zoning she had already violated the charter by reviewing and voting on the changes. The Downtown Plan initially included a portion of the arena site, which was later removed from that plan.

“As a planning commissioner, Williams can smooth the way for this project, which is going to line her pockets at taxpayers’ expense — and she’s drawing a $45,131 city salary while she does it,” Goldstein charged.

Also in the letter, Goldstein detailed that the charter provision applies to all paid city officers. The law states that a city officer with ownership interest in firms doing business with the city has a conflict of interest.

©2004 The Brooklyn Paper