(The Center Square) – An independent investigation has cleared Spokane Police Ombuds Bart Logue of conflicts of interest, concluding that his private consulting firm was “pre-authorized,” despite the fact that he incorporated it 15 months before he notified the city in writing, records obtained by The Center Square show.
The investigation submitted last week follows an ethics complaint alleging that Logue used his city position for personal gain. It ultimately found no evidence that “such consulting work improperly uses the Ombudsman title,” or that Logue engaged in time theft or conflict of interests in outside contracts.
“I find no evidence of time theft, concealment, dishonesty or conflict of interest related to Respondent Logue’s consulting activities,” Scott Gingras, an attorney with a Spokane-based law firm, wrote in the investigation report. “The consulting work was pre-authorized, transparent, and subject to oversight.”
But Evan Sims, the activist from the neighboring city of Spokane Valley who filed the complaint, disagrees with that finding, alleging that Logue leveraged his city position to generate business for his company.
Sims told The Center Square that it would be different if Logue’s other job were completely unrelated to his role as ombudsman, but he is consulting on civilian police oversight for out-of-state clients.
“It seemed like he was advertising in the press for his business; it’s like, ‘Oh, see how bad it is when these things happen. Yeah, we need oversight,” Sims said, rejecting the report’s findings. “He had at least listed five other [clients] that he had [consulted] for, well before Oak Park.”
City officials haven’t clarified whether “pre-authorized” can be verbal or if it requires written approval.
The report says that Logue told the Spokane Ombuds Commission “in or around 2023” about his plans to begin consulting. Two commissioners corroborated that and described Logue as “very transparent.”
The Spokane Code of Ethics doesn’t prohibit secondary or private employment unless that work can be seen as conflicting with the city or an employee’s official duties. However, it prohibits employees from using their official city position to secure personal benefit, gain or profit for themselves or anyone else.
If an employee becomes aware of any potential conflict, the worker must notify their supervisor in writing.
According to records obtained by The Center Square, Logue officially notified the Ombuds Commission in writing on Dec. 3, 2024, that he had formed a consulting company. His letter didn’t say when Logue created the unidentified company, but it did name then-Deputy Ombuds Luvimae Omana as cofounder.
Ombuds Commission Chair Luc Jasmin III signed a private employment agreement for Logue and Omana on that same day — two weeks after a village in Illinois awarded their company a $100,000 contract.
Several outside contracts
The documents Logue submitted to Oak Park stated that he incorporated Pivot Consulting Group in August 2023, which aligns with when Jasmin said Logue initially disclosed his consulting plans. Still, those same documents listed four other out-of-state clients that Pivot was already consulting with.
Logue also mentioned a fifth out-of-state client in a presentation to Oak Park in November 2024.
Sims said he told the investigator about Logue’s other clients, but none of that ended up in the report.
Logue didn’t notify Jasmin in writing that he incorporated his company until 15 months after he filed the paperwork.
“I am writing to notify you, as the representative of the Office of the Police Ombuds Commission, that Luvimae Omana and I have formed a limited liability company,” Logue wrote in a Dec. 3, 2024, letter. “This company provides consulting services related to civilian oversight of law enforcement.”
The paperwork Logue submitted to the Village of Oak Park before securing the $100,000 contract two weeks earlier also listed his titles as Spokane police ombuds and a commissioner of the state’s Criminal Justice Training Commission. The investigator argued that Logue was outlining his resume.
“With respect to his outside consulting work,” according to the investigation, “there is no evidence such is incompatible with the proper discharge of his official Ombuds duties, or would tend to impair his independence or judgment or action in the performance of his official Ombudsman duties.”
Gingras’ report claims that Logue was in the clear since the Ombuds Commission “pre-authorized” his consulting work. However, the report doesn’t say when Logue incorporated his Pivot Consulting Group.
In September, after the Ethics Commission voted to investigate Logue, The Center Square asked City Spokeswoman Erin Hut whether he was required to get approval before applying for consulting work.
She said that “given the nature of this work,” city employees are required to obtain their supervisor’s approval before seeking outside consulting contracts. Hut confirmed that Logue is a city employee but noted that he reports to the Ombuds Commission, not Mayor Lisa Brown or her administration.
Policies unclear
The Ombuds Commission’s policies on its website, dating back to 2018, don’t address consulting work.
Jasmin also owns a private consulting firm, but Hut said that he isn’t technically a city employee.
The Center Square could not locate any publicly available human resources policies that require Logue to obtain written approval before Pivot pursues consulting contracts. The city’s ethics code focuses on incompatible employment and written disclosure if an employee sees a potential conflict of interest.
The investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, but it’s unclear what the report and commission consider “pre-authorized,” since Logue’s private employment agreement came 15 months after he started Pivot.
The Center Square sent the Ombuds Commission several questions in September, but Jasmin declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. After the report came out, The Center Square asked him what the commission considered “pre-authorized,” but Jasmin didn’t respond.
Other questions included whether Logue was required to obtain written approval before accepting any contracts, as Hut suggested, and if there were any approval records prior to December 3, 2024. Logue did not respond to email questions or The Center Square’s voicemails to his office before publishing.
The Ethics Commission has a special meeting scheduled for Feb. 11 to discuss the investigation and consider dismissing the complaint against Logue. Just last week, the Spokane City Council proposed amending the ethics code to delay publication of materials unless someone files a records request.
If approved, it would require the panel to dismiss complaints upon an investigator’s recommendation.
The City Attorney’s Office, which hires the investigator, requested the amendments to the ethics code.
“I hereby recommend that the complaint be dismissed,” Gingras concluded in his investigative report.
