Waste Management scholarships gifted to Cooper City commissioner’s twins may violate ethics laws

By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org

On Jan. 29, Cooper City Commissioner Lisa Mallozzi certified that she had completed four hours of annual required ethics training. She did the same for 2022 and 2023. Unfortunately, there was no requirement that she learn what she was taught.

Four months later, in a May 28 special recognition ceremony at city hall, Mallozzi took the podium to hand out scholarship awards to four high school seniors provided by the city’s longtime, though recently replaced, trash hauler Waste Management. Company lobbyist Andres Limones Cruz stood nearby holding the obligatory giant presentation check.

Two of the $1,250 scholarships went to Mallozzi’s twin daughters, who have different last names from their mother. They use their father’s last name.

With the mayor, commissioners and others present, Mallozzi looked as if she hardly knew her daughters. No motherly kisses or hugs.

“Congratulations on being selected as a Waste Management Scholarship Award recipient. Your dedication and commitment to furthering your education and advancing your skills is truly commendable,” Mallozzi said blandly as she presented a certificate to one of her daughters, commission video shows.

Acceptance of the scholarships appears to violate state law, a county ordinance and a city ordinance. The giving of those gifts likewise appears to violate state law and the city’s ethics ordinance that matches state law.

ETHICS LAWS

Broward County’s Code of Ethics for Elected Officials says flatly, “No Elected Official or relative…shall accept any gift, directly or indirectly, with a value in excess of $5.00” from the city’s lobbyists or vendors. A vendor means a person or entity that has supplied goods or services within the last two years.

State law regarding public officers and employees declares, “It is essential to the proper conduct and operation of government that public officials be independent and impartial and that public office not be used for private gain other than the remuneration provided by law.”

The Code of Ethics that follows says local officials like Mallozzi who are required to file financial disclosure forms are “prohibited from knowingly accepting, directly or indirectly, a gift from a vendor doing business with…or a lobbyist who lobbies” their city… “if he or she knows or reasonably believes that the gift has a value in excess of $100.”

Relatives aren’t mentioned in that particular state prohibition, but the $2,500 in scholarship funds from Waste Management will inure to the benefit of Mallozzi and her husband by reducing their parental contribution to the girls’ college education.

The same state ethics code also prohibits vendors and lobbyists at cities from “giving, either directly or indirectly, a gift that has a value in excess of $100” to a local official.

Waste Management was Cooper City’s residential solid waste and recycling hauler for more than 20 years. In 2023, for the first time in many years, the city sought competitive bids and in December the commission voted 3-2 to hire Pompano Beach’s Coastal Waste & Recycling. The residents will see a 21 percent savings for the same level of service, the city manager said.

MALLOZZI’S ‘VERY GOOD FRIENDSHIPS’

Mallozzi has been on the Cooper City Commission for much of the last 20 years, serving from 2007-2018 and again since 2022. In 2022, Waste Management contributed $1,000 to her campaign.

In December 2023 she voted against hiring Coastal Waste and declared her preference for Waste Management. She said, “In addition to donations, I also have friendships with members of Waste Management. Um, very good friendships…They worked the entire time that I was here. I never counted any complaints,” commission video shows.

In an interview with Florida Bulldog on Friday, Mallozzi said City Attorney Jacob Horowitz had obtained an advance “opinion” from the Florida Commission on Ethics on her behalf “and the ethics committee gave the full go ahead and everything was fine.”

“There was nothing underhanded in any way, shape or form whatsoever,” Mallozzi said.

But everything isn’t fine. As described by Horowitz, he received an “informal opinion” emailed to him by the ethics commission’s general counsel, Steven Zuilkowski – not the commission itself. And while Zuilkowski does state in his email that “the Commissioner will not have a conflict of interest under the facts as you describe them,” he appears to have no authority to make such an exonerating declaration.

The ethics commission does not use “informal” opinions. They are not even mentioned in the commission’s administrative rules. Says the commission’s website, “Opinions may be requested by letter presenting a question based on a real situation and including a detailed description of the situation. Opinions are issued by the Commission and are binding.” Such opinions, known as advisory opinions, must be signed by the commission’s chairman.

WASTE MANAGEMENT’S SCHOLARSHIP

Both Waste Management’s and Coastal Waste’s contracts with the city include annual scholarship awards to eligible resident students with a minimum core GPA of 3.0 and minimum of 40 community service hours. In January, Cooper City and Waste Management announced the 2023-2024 scholarship program. Eleven students applied by the Feb. 29 deadline, city records show.

A selection committee made up of 10 members of the city’s Green Advisory Board and “one representative of Waste Management” reviewed and scored the applications and chose the winners. The award criteria included community service, a personal essay, weighted GPA and two character references.

The mayor and the city’s four commissioners each pick two members of the board.

Apparently, no one on the board thought it odd that a commissioner’s children were entered in the city-sponsored event.

Nor did anyone think it unusual that attached to the applications from Mallozzi’s daughters, both signed by their mother as parent, were identical letters of recommendation from her city hall colleague, Cooper City Commissioner Jeff Green, who in December had joined Mallozzi in voting against hiring Coastal Waste, declaring that he also preferred Waste Management.

The four-paragraph letters, on commission letterhead, list the same community activities for both girls, while observing that each “has a quiet and calm demeanor during challenging situations (that) suggests a level of maturity found well beyond her age.”

Asked about that, Mallozzi said, “They do everything together. They’re twins.”