The Eastpointe Board of Ethics has directed City Manager Mariah Walton to issue a formal letter to Mayor Monique Owens requesting annual disclosure statements for 2021 and 2022.
Owens will have 30 days to submit the statements and become compliant.
“If she does not become compliant, then we can schedule another meeting to determine a penalty or fine for noncompliance,” said Ethics Board Chair Gary Sasek.
The ethics board met on Dec. 13 and determined a complaint filed by resident Matt Schonert alleging Owens had not filed an annual disclosure form since 2017 was valid. During its Jan. 30 meeting, the board stated that, according to its ethics code, it could only go back two years from the date of the complaint, which was filed in Sept. 2022. It is for this reason that the board is asking only for the annual disclosure statements from the past two years.
“We also stated that the 2023 statement needs to be submitted,” said Sasek.
Walton said the city mailed disclosure statement requests in December and that they were to be returned by Jan. 31.
“We were giving ourselves through January of 2023 to collect all of the forms and audit them and have them on file for 2023,” said Walton.
Owens was contacted by The Macomb Daily Wednesday but did not respond. She was elected mayor in 2019 after winning a seat on Eastpointe City Council in 2017.
