[B]URLINGTON — City Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, has quit her job at an accounting firm in order to cast a vote on the sale of Burlington Telecom next week, according to the city attorney.
Paul, a staff accountant at McSoley McCoy & Co., announced at this week’s city council meeting that a “professional conflict of interest” for her came to light over the weekend and she would need to recuse herself from the Burlington Telecom sale process.
She did not reveal anything about the nature of the conflict except to say that it had “nothing whatsoever to do with the parties seeking to buy Burlington Telecom.”
Paul did not return a call requesting comment Friday.
Her recusal provided the impetus for the City Council to delay its vote on deciding between two potential buyers for Burlington Telecom. Councilors were expected to decide between a $30.5 million offer from mobile phone and internet provider Ting and a $12 million offer from the Keep Burlington Telecom Local co-operative.
The council is now expected to take that vote Monday.
City Councilor Dave Hartnett, R/D-North District, called for the delay, saying Paul’s eleventh hour recusal, after already having cast several votes on the issue, left him unsure “where we stand on that legally.”
City Attorney Eileen Blackwood said her office conducted a review, and there were no instances where Paul’s vote on a Burlington Telecom matter was decisive, and therefore she was aware of no legal issues stemming from the conflict of interest.
“There was nothing where her vote had affected the outcome,” Blackwood said. Blackwood added that she is not aware of any legal issues that would prevent Paul from voting on the Burlington Telecom sale Monday.
Paul informed the city and her fellow councilors that she left her job in an email sent late Thursday. In that message she said that “after eight years of working to address Burlington Telecom’s challenges…I never imagined that I would find myself in a position where I would not be able to cast a vote on this most important decision.”
“Over the past two days, I have worked to identify ways to resolve the conflict and have determined that there is only one way I can resolve the conflict,” Paul wrote. “This morning, effective tomorrow, I have resigned my position with my employer which was the source of that professional conflict.”
On Oct. 16, when the City Council voted to winnow the field from three down to two finalists, Paul voted for Ting. Paul was among a group of five councilors, all of whom voted for Ting, who subsequently visited its Toronto, Canada, headquarters, and there is nothing to indicate she won’t vote for the company again Monday.
That raises the prospect of Monday’s vote ending in a tie. Should that occur, Mayor Miro Weinberger, a professed Ting supporter, would not be in the position of casting a tie-breaking vote, according to city officials.
It’s not entirely clear how the City Council would resolve a tie, though the most likely outcome is the motion calling the vote on the sale would simply fail and a new motion would need to be offered.
