Two hotline ethics complaints were dropped for lack of a name; council weighs anonymous filings and a city investigator Tuesday

Anyone who files an ethics complaint against a Denton city official today has to sign their name to it, give an address, email and phone number, and later testify at a hearing. The City Council will discuss on Tuesday whether to change that.

City Auditor Madison Rorschach is scheduled to present options for restructuring the complaint section of the city's ethics ordinance during the council's 1 p.m. work session at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St. The agenda sets aside an hour for the item. Work session reports end with direction to staff, not a vote.

Where the request came from

Council Member George Ferrie asked for the discussion on July 1, seeking three changes: allowing anonymous complaints, moving the burden of proof off the person who complains, and setting up a secure hotline. The council agreed on July 14 to have staff respond, and the agenda committee placed it on a work session in August, according to the auditor's agenda information sheet.

How the process works now

Under Section 2-279 of the ordinance, the auditor cannot treat a complaint as administratively complete without the complainant's name and contact information. When those are missing, the office sends a deficiency notice, and the complaint is considered abandoned if the problems are not fixed within 10 business days.

The staff report says two complaints that arrived through the city's anonymous hotline, called Lighthouse, ended that way.

A separate section requires the complainant to testify at a hearing before the Board of Ethics, or the case is dismissed. The report describes the system as modeled on civil court, with the complainant responsible for producing evidence.

The board can sanction a violation it is "reasonably certain" occurred, with penalties ranging from a letter of notification to a recommended suspension for officials who are not council members.

The city has no staff assigned to investigate violations that fall only under the ethics ordinance, the report says, and it points to Dallas as a city that centralized that work in an inspector general's office.

Three models

The presentation lays out three approaches:

• Civil model: the current system, which costs nothing more to keep.
• Hybrid model: complainants would not have to identify themselves or testify, and the Board of Ethics would direct city staff to gather evidence. It would need ordinance changes and more staff time.
• Criminal model: a city employee would investigate and prosecute violations. It would need ordinance changes and likely a new position.

If the council wants anonymous complaints handled, staff suggests either scheduling another work session on the details or asking the Board of Ethics to draft an amendment. For the criminal-style model, staff recommends hiring a legal consultant at an unbudgeted cost of at least $5,000.

The city budgets $5,000 a year for outside counsel to the ethics board and had spent about $2,000 of it in fiscal 2026, the report says.

The hotline

The city already pays Mitratech for the around-the-clock Lighthouse line, which anyone can use to report suspected fraud, waste or abuse. Reports go to a committee drawn from the auditor's office, the city attorney's office and human resources.

Since Oct. 1, 2024, the line has received 44 reports, 35 of them anonymous, according to the report, which adds that looking at a different hotline could require more money.

Sources

legistar2.granicus.com

denton-tx.legistar.com