The Los Angeles County District Attorney is reviewing a complaint that an elected member of the Inglewood city council has a possible conflict of interest related to the City’s trash contract.
The review comes after an article detailing the possible conflict appeared on this website.
The D.A.’s Public Integrity Division is reviewing the complaint, which alleges Inglewood Councilman Eloy Morales Jr. is possibly in violation of Government Code 1090 for reporting income received from a subsidiary of Consolidated Disposal/Republic Services, who has held a trash contract with the City since 2012, assistant head deputy Bjorn Dodd confirmed on November 16.
Related: Letter: Is the Inglewood councilman still on the trash company’s payroll?
On November 14, Morales made a motion to increase trash pickup costs to accommodate service time changes he lobbied for earlier this year.
Councilwoman Gloria Gray requested staff provide information on the proposed rate increases but Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. interjected to provide an answer alluding to the Special Rate Adjustment request being at the behest of their colleagues.
“The first increase is produced by the federal government as applied by the CPI and happens every year and the special rate for the new time window which is what Councilmen [Eloy] Morales and [Alex] Padilla lobbied for and it covers the cost of doing business of picking up trash in a shorter time window as well as amortization of new signage in the City,” said Butts.
The first rate increase went up March 21, which included the special rate adjustment. Morales made the motion to increase the rate with Councilwoman Dionne Faulk providing the second. Meeting minutes indicate Councilman Padilla was absent from the meeting and did not vote.
Morales made the motion to increase the trash rates on November 14, with Faulk seconding.
This could be problematic for Morales considering he has reported making at least $10,000 from Pacific Waste and Recycling which is owned by Consolidated/Republic.
Both 2UrbanGirls and Daily Breeze wrote articles in 2017 pointing out that Morales was a paid consultant of a company owned by Consolidated/Republic Services, Pacific Coast Waste, but he stopped reporting the income on his annual statement of economic interest form 700s once it became public.
Morales also continues to be listed as a senior strategic advisor with Lee Andrews Group who has contracts with various public agencies, that overlap with Inglewood.
During the Nov. 14 council meeting Morales wanted it “on the record” that he disagreed with the new 7:00 a.m. trash pick up start times stating they were an inconvenience to families needing to get to work and their kids off to school. Residents in Morales’ district reported that despite trash increases being assessed citywide, signage in their neighborhoods are covered in plastic bags.
The D.A.’s office is now charged with determining whether Morales is in violation of Government Code 1090 which has no statue of limitations.
Government Code Section 1090 prohibits an officer, employee, or agency from participating in making government contracts in which the official or employee within the agency has a financial interest.
Because Morales stopped reporting the income on publicly available documents, he will most likely be asked to provide statements on whether he does in fact still receive income from both Consolidated/Republic and Lee Andrews Group and more importantly, why he stopped reporting it.
Morales could also face federal scrutiny considering Inglewood derives some of its funding from federal sources.