fbpx

City auditor’s report confirms Yaft’s conflict of interest

HomeAustin-Bergstrom International AirportCity auditor’s report confirms Yaft’s conflict of interest

The Bulldog reported March 28th that the chief executive of the city-owned Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (aka AUS) had resigned, possibly over an unreported conflict of interest.

Jacqueline Yaft started her job as airport boss June 10, 2019, and 10 days later her former employer, Paslay Management Group (PMG) was hired under a $10 million contract to provide executive program manager services for the airport.

Yaft worked for PMG immediately before she was hired to oversee the airport, a fact disclosed in both her application for employment and in PMG’s submission that won the contract.

A 15-page investigative report published today by the Austin City Auditor confirmed the Bulldog report’s finding and provided significant additional information based on interviews with Yaft and city officials, correspondence involving the City’s Law Department, and invoices she approved for payments to Paslay.

The auditor’s investigation contains two findings: One that she acted on a conflict of interest. The report states that the Law Department advised Yaft in June 2019 that she must excuse herself from oversight of PMG payments and contract terms and should take no actions that could create the perception of impropriety.

The report states that Yaft nevertheless signed and approved payment of three invoices from her former employer totaling about $380,000, and she had requested the firm be paid about $170,000 for another invoice. In addition Yaft, with no other Aviation Department staff present, had personally met with PMG on numerous occasions and had spoken with the firm and reduced its hours during the Covid pandemic.

These actions violated City Code Section 2-7-63(A) on prohibition of conflict of interest, the report states.

Secondly, Yaft violated City Code Section 2-7-64(A) and (C) by not timely disclosing her conflict to her supervisor, as the Law Department had advised. She didn’t file that disclosure until September 2022 after meeting with the auditor’s staff, the report states.

Attorney defended Yaft’s actions

Andrew Cates

Attorney Andrew Cates, representing Yaft, filed a four-page letter that is included in the auditor’s report.

With respect to the conflict of interest finding, the Cates letter states, “The actions described by the City Auditor in the report amount to nothing more than standard duties of an executive employee, and any reasonable person would see that Ms. Yaft had no personal interest in any meetings with the Contractor or in any executive decision-making required by her position. As such, Ms. Yaft should not have been required to disclose anything according to City Code.”

The letter states that the “advice” provided to Yaft by the Law Department was “consistently at odds with and contradictory to the communications and actions of Ms. Yaft’s supervisor,” whose name was redacted in the report.

As to the finding Yaft failed to disclose her conflict of interest, Cates’ letter states that she was “was universally transparent about her former employment which was well known throughout the Airport, the shortfall in disclosure form filing deprived no one in the City’s chain of command, either up or down from Ms. Yaft’s Department CEO position, of full knowledge on the circumstances of her employment.”

The Cates letter closes by stating, “the City should be thanking Ms. Yaft who served the City extraordinarily well in launching the modernization of the airport, in operating AUS throughout the Covid-19 pandemic with a 30 percent vacancy rate, and in increasing the Airport’s air service advancing the airport to a large hub serving close to 22 million passengers.”

Auditor’s response to attorney

The auditor’s response to the Cates’ letter states that Yaft had a “substantial interest” in PMG by virtue of the $200,000 annual salary she received from the firm.

The report states that auditor interviews with the city executives who oversaw Yaft indicated they had never discussed Yaft’s conflict or interest and had not received a written disclosure about it.

Auditor’s investigation did not include PMG

Corrie Stokes

City Auditor Corrie Stokes, in a telephone interview, said that her office did not look into what the Bulldog’s report found to be a violation by airport contractor PMG.

“From our respective, we investigate the person the allegation is against…Our allegation came in about Yaft’s conflict of interest. When doing an investigation, we stick to what was alleged.”

PMG did not file a Conflict of Interest Questionnaire, Form CIQ, until five days after Yaft resigned. A knowing failure to file the form in a contract of at least $5 million is a Class A misdemeanor.

In which case, per Local Government Code Section 176.013(d), the city council “may, at its discretion, declare a contract void.” Exceptions apply if the government officer or vendor filed the required conflicts disclosure not later than the seventh business day after the date they were notified of the alleged violation.”

Stokes said she is not aware of any action being taken concerning PMG. “I’ve not talked to anyone about that,” she said.

Trust indicators: Ken Martin has been doing investigative reporting in the three-county Austin metro area since 1981. His aggressive reporting twice garnered first-place national awards for investigative reporting. Both of those projects resulted in successful criminal prosecutions. His 2011 investigation of the Austin City Council’s open meetings violations triggered a 20-month investigation by the Travis County attorney that resulted in the mayor and council members signing deferred prosecution agreements to avoid being charged, tried, and if convicted serving one to six months in jail and forfeiting their elective offices. See more on Ken on the About page. Email [email protected].

Related documents:

Investigative Report, Conflict of Interest by Aviation Department Director, April 2023 (15 pages)

Related Bulldog coverage:

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport sets records but CEO is out, March 28, 2023

1 COMMENT

  1. Good reporting, the Austin Bulldog does awesome seeinvestigative reporting and keeps area politicians and other citizens in the limelight honest and responsible for their actions.

Congratulations. It looks like you’re the type of person who reads to the end of articles. Now that you’re informed on this topic we want your feedback.

Related Content

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport sets records but CEO is out

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport touted a record-breaking year in 2022 with passenger traffic of slightly more than 21 million, up 55.4 percent from 2021.Work is...

Auditor Alleges City Supervisor’s Misconduct

Auditor Alleges City Supervisor’s Misconduct

Disciplinary action hangs fire while department
director and human resources confer and decide

by Ken Martin
Additional Research by Mark Henricks
© The Austin Bulldog 2015
Posted Tuesday December 15, 2015 3:18pm
Updated Wednesday December 16, 2015 9:50am (to correct last name of Rodney Gonzales)
Updated Wednesday December 16, 2015 1:18pm (to clarify auditor interaction with Ethics Review Commission)

Eric GomezThe report of an investigation released by the Austin City Auditor in October 2015 found evidence that Eric Leal Gomez, an environmental compliance supervisor in the Development Services Department, allegedly misused his position, misused city resources, and inappropriately entered into a business relationship with a subordinate. The report provided details for the three findings.

Gomez addressed these findings in a 10-page e-mail addressed to department management September 23, 2015. Gomez conceded that he misused his city computer and Internet access in connection with efforts to establish a private business but stated the infraction had been cured and would not be a problem going forward. He argued the other two findings were inappropriate and requested they be retracted.

Nathan WiebeNathan Wiebe, chief of investigations for in the City Auditor’s Office, said that Gomez’ responses have been considered but the findings will not be retracted.

“We allow the subject of an investigation to respond in writing,” Wiebe said. “If they present evidence that may potentially affect the findings we investigate and modify the report. In cases where they have presented their side of the story but the response hasn’t changed anything, then the report goes out. In this case, he requested redaction of two findings but what you see in the final report—that’s our response.”

The auditor’s investigation of Gomez was conducted in response to an anonymous complaint, Wiebe said.

While the complaint was anonymously filed with the auditor, Gomez said, “The problem was she started bragging about turning me into the auditor, resulting in this investigation.” He named a former employee that he said he had once pursued disciplinary action against the woman for allegedly falsifying timesheets.

Still, it would be up to the auditor to investigate, substantiate the allegations, and bear the burden of proof. An investigation published by the previous auditor was discredited, the City Council issued a formal apology to the accused, and a lawsuit is pending to get the documentation that supported that flawed report.

Disciplinary action pending

Light Turnout for City Auditor’s Meetings

Light Turnout for City Auditor’s Meetings

Five scheduled meetings drew fewer than ninety
people, but keen interest shown among attendees

by Ken Martin
© The Austin Bulldog 2012
Posted Tuesday January 29, 2013 3:47pm
Correction posted 4:29pm Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Ken MoryCity Auditor Ken Mory and his staff are doing their utmost to reach out to the public and provide information that would encourage Austin voters to apply to serve on one of the two bodies that will shape Austin’s future for decades to come.

The action is a result of voter approval November 6 of Proposition 3, which orders the implementation of 10 geographic council districts from which Austin City Council members will be elected in November 2014. Another charter amendment approved by voters dictates that council elections will be held in November of even-numbered years, council members will serve four-year terms (instead of three years), and will be limited to two terms (instead of three). Incumbents can run in spite of term limits if they gather signatures of 5 percent of registered voters to gain access to the ballot.

The auditor hosted five application public information meetings over an eight-day period starting Saturday January 19 and ending Saturday January 26. A total of about 87 people attended those meetings. About 14 of those were Bowie High School students who attended the January 24 meeting at Gorzycki Middle School as part of a government class. So at most the meetings drew about 73 people who might have been eligible to serve.

Translate

Newsletter

What's really going on in government?

Keep up with the best investigative reporting in Austin.

Donate to the Bulldog

Our critical accountability journalism wouldn't be possible without the generous donations of hundreds of Austinites. Join them and become a supporter today!