SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane City Councilmember Jonathan Bingle has filed a complaint against the Continuum of Care Board Chair, Ben Stuckart, alleging that he violated ethics through "improper actions in shelter process."
According to a press release from the City of Spokane, the complaints state that Stuckart, who was named as the project manager for Jewels Helping Hands (JHH), participated in a board meeting on April 15 about which proposal to recommend for a new homeless shelter.
Although Stuckart recused himself from the vote of the proposals, the complaint alleges that his continued participation in discussions regarding the proposals "violated the CoC's Conflict of Interest Policy."
“The appearance of impropriety by elected or appointed officials’ casts doubt on the fairness of government. The citizens of Spokane deserve to know that the process to select a new shelter has integrity and that their hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being stewarded appropriately,” said Councilmember Jonathan Bingle.
The City also said that Stuckart has a well-documented history of ethics trouble and past allegations of conflict of interest. In 2021, the Washington State Auditor reported that Stuckart, then the Spokane City Council president, may have violated city conflict of interest ordinances when he allegedly helped steer a city contract to JHH in 2019.
According to the City of Spokane, the 2021 audit also stated that JHH was considered "High Risk" by the city due to an unclear relationship with the Smith-Barbieri Progressive Fund.
In another instance in 2014, Stuckart was at the center of an ethics complaint and was later fined $250 by the City's Ethics Commission after admitting that he forwarded confidential information to the Spokane Firefighters Union amid a pending legal matter between the City and a union official.
“It is deeply troubling that the Chair of the Board [Stuckart], who stands to benefit from a six-figure salary as a project manager for one of the providers who has submitted a proposal for review, was a part of discussions about which proposal should be recommended," Bingle said. "This gives an appearance of impropriety at best and corruption at worst. I hope that all governing agencies thoroughly and swiftly review this matter. To restore the public’s trust, immediate and appropriate action must be taken to address these severe allegations of conflicts of interest and potentially unethical actions of Ben Stuckart.”