Props to the St. Pete Times Justin George for getting some specific information into today's paper about one of the allegations made against HART CEO David Armijo, who was originally put on a two-week paid suspension by the transit agency's board last month after they received allegations of improprieties committed by Armijo.
On Monday, the HART boarded to continue that paid suspension for an additional two weeks, in order to allow individual board members to meet with Armijo to discuss in depth the charges against him, which have been reported to include allegations of favoritism in hiring and retaliating against employees who expressed concerns about the workplace with him.
George writes that in fact one allegation regards Armijo renting a Harbor Island condo for one year from a lawyer who was under contract with HART - which might qualify as a violation of HART's ethics policy regarding conflict of interest if he did not disclose that, though Armijo tells the paper that he spoke with the transit agency's in house attorney, Clark Jordan-Holmes about it at that time.
From the story:
Armijo said he took proper steps to make sure the rental wasn't a conflict of interest and asked HART's then-attorney, Clark Jordan-Holmes, about the arrangement before he signed a lease. Jordan Holmes saw no problem, Armijo said.
Jordan-Holmes didn't return several messages from the St. Petersburg Times over two days.
