ITHACA, N.Y. (WHCU) — Ithaca’s former mayor is reacting to the Tompkins County Ethics Advisory Board’s report on Reimagining Public Safety. 

In a statement, Svante Myrick says the board’s investigation lacked the same independence that the city’s probe into possible ethics violations had. Myrick believes the county’s process was weak, adding the report can’t be taken seriously.

An earlier investigation led by the city and an independent lawyer cleared Myrick of wrongdoing in December. 

Svante Myrick’s full response to the Tompkins County Ethics Advisory Board

“The City of Ithaca’s Reimagining Public Safety project was a transformative process that necessarily upended the status quo, and anytime this occurs in politics or policy it’s inevitable that feathers will be ruffled.  It’s important to remember that the city already conducted an entirely independent review of the RPS project, with an outside law firm, and found no ethics violations. Unfortunately, the Tompkins County Ethics Advisory Board’s process was not as independent and free from conflict of interest as the city’s was. The belated decision by the county board chair to acknowledge his conflicts of interest and abstain from a final vote on the findings is a serious concern, given his role in driving the investigation. Moreover, the board admits in its report that many of its findings cannot be corroborated with evidence and are ‘inferences’ the board has made. We believe the weaknesses in the county’s process and findings are so severe that its report can’t be taken as a serious refutation of the city’s earlier findings, which cleared the Mayor’s office of any allegations of wrongdoing.”