A city of Pittsburgh manager who sold himself a city-owned house for $2,500 violated the Ethics Act and must pay a penalty, according to a state Ethics Commission order issued Monday.
But real estate manager Aaron Pickett won’t likely face further discipline from the city, because it didn’t then have a rule barring employees from selling themselves public property — and still doesn’t, said Margaret Lanier, the city’s finance director and treasurer.
She called Mr. Pickett “a strong worker. The employees respect him. I’ve never had any issues with him.”
She acknowledged, though, that his involvement in his own purchase “looked bad because he’s the manager of the process.”
Mr. Pickett, hired by the city in 2014, bought a house at 1103 Tropical Ave. in Beechview through the city’s process for disposing of abandoned and tax-delinquent properties — a process he manages. He approved the purchase price and signed court papers as both seller and purchaser, in a process that started with an application in March 2016, included City Council approval, and culminated in a deed transfer in June 2017. The deed was not made public until April 2018, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported the sale two months later.
The house was assessed by Allegheny County at $102,600, and three other prospective buyers had filed applications to purchase it. One of those would-be buyers told the Post-Gazette that he would have paid as much as $40,000. Normally if multiple, eligible buyers request a city-owned property, a court-run auction occurs, but the real estate department did not trigger such an auction in this case.
According to the Ethics Commission’s order, Mr. Pickett violated the Ethics Act when he “assessed and set the sale price of real property owned/held by the city, at a time when he possessed a reasonable interest in purchasing the property for himself” and “executed a Proposal to Purchase agreement between the city and himself concerning the sale of real property.”
Per an agreement inked in May between the commission and Mr. Pickett, he must pay the state $5,000 within 30 days, according to the order. He cannot be reimbursed by the city for that payment.
If he makes a profit of more than $5,000 from the sale of the property within the next five years, he must forfeit that to the state, according to the order.
Micah C. T. Sims, executive director of the watchdog group Common Cause Pennsylvania, applauded the commission for the finding of a violation, but wondered whether the remedy was sufficient.
“A slap on the hand is nice,” he said. But, he added, “This type of practice cannot continually go on.” He suggested that the city might take the house back and put it “up for sale again through the right process.”
Ms. Lanier, who supervises Mr. Pickett, said the order appears likely to close the matter.
“I don’t believe it’ll involve any city action because there was no policy in place that a city employee can’t purchase city property,” so there is no grounds for city action against Mr. Pickett, she said.
Ms. Lanier said she has proposed a new city policy that would bar the purchase of city property by the employees who handle the sales of such properties. She said her Finance Department and the Law Department have been going back and forth on the exact wording of that policy for months.
City Solicitor Yvonne Hilton did not immediately respond to an inquiry on the status of that effort.
Mr. Sims said the city should write an ordinance, so future administrations will have to abide by it.
“That transaction and the way things are able to happen are not good for the constituents of Pittsburgh or Allegheny County, therefore I would hope that City Council would act sooner, rather than later,” said Mr. Sims.
The Rev. Ricky Burgess, who chairs the council Finance and Law Committee, said he would vote for a ban on city property sales to the employees who administer such sales.
The Ethics Commission finding of a violation “obviously raises questions,” said Councilman Anthony Coghill, of Beechview, adding that he doubted that Mr. Pickett was poised to make a windfall.
“I’d say he probably has to put $100,000 of work into [the house],” said Mr. Coghill, who is a roofing contractor. “Tropical Avenue is a beautiful street, and I’m hoping — whether it’s Aaron or someone else — I hope they fix [1103] up.”
The city sells tax-delinquent properties to get them back on the tax rolls. Allegheny County’s assessment website, though, indicates that Mr. Pickett hasn’t yet paid the $272.45 in county property taxes due in April.
Mr. Pickett could not be reached for comment Monday.
He also failed to file required Statements of Financial Interests for the years 2014 through 2017, according to the ethics order, which called those technical violations. The order demands that he file the required forms.
If he does not comply, the commission will launch an enforcement action, according to the order.
Ashley Murray contributed. Rich Lord: rlord@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1542.
First Published: August 5, 2019, 5:02 p.m.
Updated: August 5, 2019, 9:22 p.m.
