City of La Crosse Mayor Matt Harter says he was looking out for the city’s best interest when he asked La Crosse County Solid Waste Department Director Hank Koch to not move forward with a solid waste study back in February.

But a legal opinion from an outside law firm states that Mayor Harter violated some city and state ethics codes by bringing his dad, the owner of Harter’s Quick Clean-Up, who has a refuse contract with the city, to one of those meetings.

"I would not have the meeting at all and since this incidence has come up, I have stepped down from a number of meetings and retained special advice and legal council," Mayor Harter said.

The Godfrey and Kahn Law Firm report states that during a meeting on February 11, Mayor Harter met with Koch and made a comment to the effect that there was a new baby in the family that would need to be supported through the family business. But according to the report, the mayor stated that he never made that comment.

The report also states that on February 22, Mayor Harter brought his dad to a meeting with Koch where they asked him again to not move forward with the study.

“Looking back, I would not have participated in this matter in county solid waste issues to the level that I have because it has been a distraction from city business, it has expended city resources and I would not have done it the same that I had done," Mayor Harter said.

The report found that the mayor should have disclosed that one of his concerns was that the study could negatively affect his family’s business.

"We all make mistakes and possibly it wasn’t maybe the wisest thing to do, but I don’t believe that it was evil intent," said City Council Member Lorraine Rose Decker. "I don’t believe he was looking out for the wrong interests.”

Decker says she’s known the mayor since he was about six-years-old.
But she says she tries to be very objective and look at him as the mayor and not someone who she’s watched grow up.

“I believe he’s an honorable man," Decker said. "I believe he studies the issues.”

“I learn new things in this job every day," Mayor Harter said. "This has been a distraction from city business and moving forward, I will take special caution to avoid any image of impropriety.”

Mayor Harter says he has forwarded the legal opinion to the city’s ethics board, the district attorney, and the state attorney general’s office for review. If the district attorney finds a reason to prosecute, the city attorney says Harter could face criminal charges.

The full ethics report is posted on the City of La Crosse’s Legal Department's website. Go to www.cityoflacrosse.org. Then click on the legal department and then it’s under legal opinions.