The Town Council has decided to take no action against fellow Council Member David Spelich based on an ethics complaint filed with the town in an April 29 letter to Town Manager Grady Miller.

Miller issued a statement last week announcing the council decision.

“On June 2, the Town Council met in executive session to review the findings and conclusion of an ethics inquiry involving Councilmember David Spelich,” Miller said. “After reviewing the complaint and a report from the ethics [hearing] officer, the Town Council has declined to take action on the matter.”

The complaint, filed by resident Mary Ann Bosnos, called out Spelich for comments he made during a council session on April 7, 2020 regarding an unnamed business’ compliance with the Governor’s executive orders related to dine-in services.

“Some of the terms Mr. Spelich applied to this business owner were ‘unconscionable,’ holding a viewpoint of ‘hooray for me and screw you,’ an attitude of being ‘above the law’ and behaving with disrespect,” Bosnos writes in her complaint.

“Mr. Spelich stated several times that he needed to choose his words carefully, yet he continued with his public shaming of the restaurant. He could have stopped his attack at any point, yet he did not. This indicates his behavior was willful and intentional.

“Businesses have a tough enough time surviving in Fountain Hills during a viral pandemic without having to endure abuse from someone sitting in a position of political power on the council dais.”

Bosnos asked for a public apology from Spelich to the business.

Spelich sent a statement to The Times regarding the incident.

“I was disappointed to learn that my comments at the April 7 Council meeting offended someone,” Spelich said. “It has never been my intention to offend anyone, and I regret if my choice of words was less than perfect.

“The point of my message was simply that people need to respect and follow the rule of law, whether the law is a Governor’s executive order or the Constitution. I stand by that principle, and I respect the Council’s choice to take no action on the ethics complaint.”

The complaint was forwarded to an independent ethics officer who conducted an ethics inquiry for the town, Miller said in his statement.

“As part of the ethics inquiry, the ethics officer found that the Councilmember could have used other methods to convey his concerns about a local business not complying with the Governor’s executive orders,” Miller said.

Cecil Patterson, Jr., the ethics review officer stated in his conclusion that Spelich specifically violated a portion of the Ethics Code that states that Councilmembers “be dedicated to the highest ideals of honor, ethics and integrity in all public and personal relationships, (A) Public confidence, we shall conduct ourselves so as to maintain public confidence in town government and in the performance of the public trust.”

Patterson noted that he was referring to the colloquialism Spelich said he learned from his father, and referred to by Bosnos – “hooray for me and screw you.”

Patterson noted some other areas of concern regarding Spelich’s remarks and recommended the councilman “review thoroughly the Code of Ethics to insure that he is familiar with the words contained in it, the underlying philosophy with occasioned and brought it about and its applications to council discussions and actions.”

He suggested this be part of the council’s annual retreat.

“Under the town’s code of ethics procedures, the findings and conclusions from an outside ethics officer are advisory and are taken into consideration by the Town Council before taking possible action,” Miller said. “Following ethics inquiries, possible actions of the Town Council include rejecting the ethics officer’s conclusions, giving an admonishment, or taking no action.”