Legal, ethics complaints fly in Fountain Hills battle over apartments

Fountain Hills council members and the town clerk all have been named as defendants in a lawsuit over an apartment project, capping a chaotic span in which one council member was sanctioned for multiple ethics breaches and another is facing five ethics complaints.

The battle involves a vote in January on a rezoning request for a 6.7-acre portion of Four Peaks Plaza, also known as the Target center.

The council's 4-3 decision to approve rezoning to allow an apartment complex was opposed by many Fountain Hills residents. Immediately after the council’s vote, Reclaim Our Town, a Fountain Hills-based political action committee, began circulating a petition to send the rezoning decision to voters via a ballot referendum.

The petition collected 1,800 signatures. However, because of an incorrect serial number on the back of every petition sheet, the committee's attempt was invalidated by Linda Mendenhall, the Fountain Hills town clerk.

On March 4, Reclaim Our Town filed a complaint and application for injunctive relief in Maricopa County Superior Court, hoping to give residents the chance to vote on the matter.

The members of the Town Council: Mayor Ginny Dickey, Vice Mayor Brenda Kalivianakis, council members Garry Firedel, Allen Skillicorn, Hannah Toth, Sharron Grzybowski, and Peggy McMahon, in their official capacities; the town clerk, Mendenhall, in her official capacity; and the project developers, Sandor Development, are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The decision to rezone the shopping center on Shea Boulevard to house a four-story, 316-unit apartment complex, has been highly contentious in Fountain Hills since the idea was proposed in 2023. Some residents favored adding apartment homes to the community, while others viewed the possible complex as a burden and safety concern.

"A political action committee wants to stop this development and tried to refer this Fountain Hills ordinance to the ballot for a vote. But all its referendum petition sheets violated longstanding Arizona law by including the wrong serial number. The Town Clerk rightly rejected the committee’s petition sheets for that reason, and the developer looks forward to prevailing in court." Austin Yost, Sandor Development's legal representative, said in a written statement to The Arizona Republic.

The political action committee is seeking relief by asking the court to order Mendenhall to continue her statutory review process and forward signatures to the Maricopa County recorder for verification.

The case’s evidentiary hearing was scheduled for May 21.

A contentious council meeting on rezoning for apartments

Nearly 170 residents were in the audience at the January council meeting. Many spoke to the council before the vote on the rezoning.

One public commenter used his time at the microphone to express his opposition by saying, “Back east, they call these types of buildings 'the projects.' And they're not well liked.”

After public comments, the council members began their tense discussions on the rezoning request.

Council member Allen Skillicorn began the conversation by asking the council and town attorney if there were council members who needed to excuse themselves from voting on the matter.

“I'm just curious if people on the record, have they (council members) had ex parte communications, have they taken contributions from the developer?” Skillicorn said.

He continued to ask the council members numerous times to confirm they had not received funding from the developer, Sandor Development, or had any inappropriate conversations with the company's representatives.

This comment and line of questioning from Skillicorn led Councilmember Sharron Grzybowski to file an ethics complaint against him.

Grzybowski’s complaint, as well as five additional ethics complaints filed against Skillicorn by residents and Kalivianakis, were investigated by an outside law firm. Investigators found Skillicorn to have violated multiple sections of the town's code of ethics, in this situation and during an interaction between the council member and a town employee.

In March, the council voted to sanction Skillicorn, barring him from the council’s vice mayor position, removing tax-dollar funding for him to participate in meetings and events, and mandating he have a monitor anytime he interacts with a town employee in person.

Fountain Hills: sanctions 'bully' council member, orders him to get a chaperone

Ethics complaints against vice mayor are being investigated

Fountain Hills residents, however, want answers to the questions Skillicorn had been asking back in that January meeting.

Community members Carol Rogala, Liz GIldersleeve and Barbara Russo all filed their own ethics complaints against the vice mayor alleging she had private communications with Sandor Development before the January meeting.

Rogala, GIldersleeve and Russo all cite an email conversation between Kalivianakis and Justin Eller, the project manager at Sandor Development.

“I was disturbed to find an email conversation between Kalivainakis and Justin Eller which states that he is requesting Kalivianakis’ 'personal email address to send documents. We don’t want these in the public domain,’” said Gildersleeve in her ethics complaint filed with the town.

According to documents included with the complaint, Kalivianakis gave Eller her personal email Jan. 16, the day before the council’s meeting to vote on the project.

In addition to the three complaints filed about Kalivianakis' email conversation with Eller, Councilmember Hannah Toth also filed an ethics complaint against Kalivianakis.

“Councilmember Kalivianakis is facing an opportunity to address a mistake, apologize and take responsibility. Whatever the intention may have been, the facts of the case are simple. A document was received on a private email, and kept from the public (and the Council) until after a vote on the project had been made,” Toth stated in a written statement made to the Republic.

“I fully respect the desire to make an informed vote, however, obtaining information in secret and withholding it from fellow council members prior to a vote is not homework, it casts doubt on the integrity of the Town Council," Toth added.

Kalivianakis maintained that these complaints were misguided and misinformed, saying the exchange with Eller had been initiated by town manager, Rachael Goodwin, because Kalivanakis was following up on questions the council had for Sandor about a parking agreement.

"They're just really upset with me right now and it goes back to 2 things," Kalivianakis said, "My vote on the Target center, and then my filing the ethics complaint against Alan Skillicorn."

"If I had done something wrong, I would be the first person to admit it. I'm an attorney, I know what I'm doing. I would have been the first to say I shouldn't have done that," Kalivianakis continued, "but in this case I did nothing wrong."

The four ethics complaints against Kalivianakis will be investigated by an outside law firm. Investigators will determine whether the complaint is sustained or not sustained. If the investigators determine that the complaint is sustained, the town attorney will call an executive session.

Based on the circumstances, the council then will decide what, if any, sanctions to impose.

By a majority vote, the council can direct an offending council member to retract a statement or make an apology. The council also could censure or suspend the council member.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fountain Hills: chaotic span over apartment project