Mayor Pougnet dodges questions about conflict of interest

Steve Pougnet has been on Palm Springs city council since 2003, and served as mayor since 2007.

Never in those 12 years has he faced the scrutiny and criticism he is facing in the wake of allegations of a serious conflict of interest: doing city business with a company that the mayor was paid handsomely to consult.

At tonight’s city council meeting, city attorney Doug Holland announced he will recommend the council to rescind the sale of a parcel of land in north Palm Springs, approved last December, pending a new vote.

News Channel 3 obtained documents showing that sale could be a conflict of interest between Pougnet and one of Palms Springs’ most prominent developers, Richard Meaney.

Pougnet was a paid consultant for a firm called Union Abbey, which Richard Meaney created in 2003, according to the California Secretary of State.

Pougnet earned at least $200,000 since 2013 as a consultant for Union Abbey according to 700 Formswe obtained from the city clerk.

News Channel 3 looked back at the minutes from the December 3, 2014 city council meeting, which showed the mayor did not abstain from approving the sale of a property known as Casa del Camino on north Palm Canyon Drive.

The buyers: Richard Meaney and another investor, Yokang Zhou.

After Wednesday night’s city council meeting News Channel 3’s Natalie Brunell tried to ask the mayor about his business relationship with Meaney (see video), but the mayor refused to talk.

All other members of the city council also refused to comment.

Pougnet, who lives part-time in Colorado, recently quit his consulting job for Union Abbey, which was operating on a suspended business license.

According to California’s Franchise Tax Board, Union Abbey lost its license in 2009 for owing $48,528.55 in unpaid taxes.

No resident present at the city council meeting spoke about the mayor’s dealings during the public comment section.