WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – The Watertown Ethics Board has cleared Council Members Lisa Ruggiero and Cliff Olney of any ethical violations.<\/p>\n
An ethics complaint was filed on November 18th by Mayor Sarah Pierce and Council Members Robert Kimball and Ben Shoen. Ruggiero and Olney were accused of forwarding and \u201cblind carbon copying\u201d city emails to a local developer.<\/p>\n
The ethics board met Friday morning and gave the opinion that the charges against Ruggiero were inconclusive. Chairman Stephen Jennings said, \u201cThe board of ethics finds no conclusive evidence for a complaint filed on November 18th of 2025, whereby Council Member Lisa A. Ruggiero violated the code of ethics.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ruggiero says the matter will leave a black eye on the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that I\u2019ve had to pay for legal fees, which are going to be expensive, but I knew that I was not going to roll over on this. I needed to be clear of this, I needed my name cleared, and thank goodness that happened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As for Olney, the board found the evidence against him was also not conclusive. Jennings said that while Olney did not clearly breach the code of ethics, his behavior raises questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe act of forwarding and blind copying city-related emails to a certain external party on more than 30 occasions creates the appearance of impropriety, which raises serious questions of Council Member Olney\u2019s independence. Accordingly, while no definitive violation is found, the board of ethics deems the conduct by Council Member Olney inconsistent with best ethical practice,\u201d said Jennings.<\/p>\n
Olney called the process outrageous. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t see any way that they justify this. We don\u2019t know how much it costs. We don\u2019t know how many hours were involved. It was done mostly behind closed doors, secretly.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement, Mayor Sarah Pierce wrote, \u201cWhile some of the conduct at issue may not technically violate the City\u2019s current ethics code, I believe it clearly falls outside the boundaries Watertown residents should expect from those elected to serve them. This includes sharing internal City communications, forwarding legal materials, blind-copying a developer on constituent correspondence, and engaging in a level of coordination that was never disclosed to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also emphasized the \u201curgent need\u201d to strengthen and modernize the city\u2019s code of ethics.<\/p>\n
Council Member Kimball says he\u2019s satisfied with how the process went.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is definitely time to move on from all of this and just deal with the issues we need to deal with,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Shoen said he respects the board\u2019s decision and appreciates its time and effort. <\/p>\n
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