He's a city councilor who is also an attorney for a construction firm. That firm bids on and is awarded city contracts. Sound like potential for a conflict of interest? He doesn't think so.

Long-serving Councilor Matthew Ortiz repeatedly failed to formally disclose his involvement with Advantage Asphalt — a company that the city has hired for millions of dollars worth of work and now is wrapped up in a Santa Fe County investigation, according to city documents reviewed by The New Mexican.

"I've never mentioned to anyone at the city that Advantage Asphalt was my client," he said in an interview Monday night.

"On any work I've done for Advantage, it's been in my capacity as a private lawyer doing work for a private contractor. ... I'm entitled to make a living as a lawyer and I'm entitled to represent clients. I haven't done anything in my official role as a city councilor to implicate or to in any way cross that line that the city's code of ethics defines."

While Advantage is a client of the councilor, the city manager says Ortiz hasn't exerted any influence in the city's bid processes, and the city hasn't experienced any out-of-the-ordinary problems with the contractor.

"Our purchasing guidelines make it easier for local contractors to get work with us, and we have lots of checks and balances," City Manager Robert Romero said. "(Advantage Asphalt) has done good work for us. I don't see that there is anything to investigate. They are a local company who has gotten work fairly through the bidding process. In fact, I would say they are one of our better contractors."

Romero, who spent five years as head of the city Public Works Department before he was named city manager last year, said the system is set up to minimize favoritism.

Ortiz, who is serving his third four-year term on the City Council and is the governing body's parliamentarian, has acted as a public spokesman for Advantage Asphalt over the last two months as the company came into the public spotlight during a county investigation. He told The New Mexican in May that he first became legal counsel for the firm in 2007.

In the three years since then, Ortiz participated in public hearings at City Hall, at which the company was awarded work.

The city Finance Committee reviews bid procedures and contracts for city-funded projects. Although since 2008 he has chaired the committee and therefore only votes in case of a tie, in 2007 Ortiz was one of four voting members of the committee.

Minutes for those meetings reflect that he voted in May 2007 to grant the company an amendment to its contract for utility paving restoration. Ortiz said his records indicate he became an attorney for Advantage in August of that year.

In 2008, the year he closed his own practice and became "of counsel" with the Jay Goodman & Associates Law Firm, Ortiz was absent from two Finance Committee meetings at which councilors voted to recognize the company as the preferred bidder on a project. At another meeting that year, he presided as chairman when other councilors voted on an Advantage contract. In 2009, the committee voted five times to award contracts or approve bids involving the company, and Ortiz presided as chairman over each session.

None of the minutes indicate Ortiz said anything about his attorney-client relationship with the firm.

The city Code of Ethics says an official is required to recuse himself or herself from participation in or voting on any matter in which he or she has a conflict of interest. It defines such a conflict as a prospect of financial gain or loss — to either the official, an immediate family member or a businesses for which an official is a employee, client or customer — that results from an official act.

It also says an official may receive compensation for services rendered as long as those fees are normal and reasonable, but notes that an elected official "shall immediately disclose the conflict ... to each of the other members of the governmental body of which he or she is a member."

Mayor David Coss said in an interview Monday that he first learned that Ortiz worked with Advantage when he read about it recently in the newspaper. Coss said all the items that Ortiz apparently voted on regarding the company were on a consent agenda, which means they were not necessarily discussed before the vote. But Coss noted that he expects different behavior now.

"I think now that he's disclosed that, I think he should probably refrain from voting on their contracts," the mayor said, adding, "but that's a matter for Councilor Ortiz and City Attorney Geno Zamora to review."

Advantage owner Anthony Montoya was a signal technician for the city from 1989 to 2000. He first filed for a city business license for the company in 2002.

Although no one has filed a formal conflict-of-interest complaint with the city clerk regarding Ortiz, others say he's gone to bat for Advantage.

Mike Loftin, director of the nonprofit Homewise, said the councilor asked to meet with him in 2008 so they could discuss why Homewise, which helps promote affordable homeownership, didn't hire Advantage for work on which the company had bid.

"(Ortiz) met me and said, 'Hey, I'm really disappointed that you didn't hire my guy,' " said Loftin, who made a call to the U.S. Attorney General about the situation and was told that unless there is proof that an official was taking money in exchange for such advocacy, no laws had been broken.

"I thought it was out of line," Loftin said. "I thought that was inappropriate. It was completely unacceptable."

Later, Ortiz made public statements alleging that Homewise, which receives city grant money for housing assistance, has administrative costs that are too high. Loftin said that felt like retaliation.

Coss said Montoya approached him to complain about not getting the Homewise work around the same time. The mayor said Montoya mentioned Ortiz, but he couldn't remember exactly what the business owner said. "He said he was going to ask Councilor Ortiz to look into it," Coss said. "That was a long time ago, I wouldn't quote the exact language."

Former County Manager Roman Abeyta, who resigned Monday, said May 18 that he asked the sheriff to investigate possible fraud and theft at the county Public Works Department. Abeyta named Advantage Asphalt as one of the firms that is "part of the investigation."

Ortiz issued a statement that day saying the company was voluntarily cooperating with the investigation and "stands behind the projects it has built for Santa Fe County."

Sheriff Greg Solano said Monday that his department's investigation at county government is ongoing, but so far no one is alleging wrongdoing in connection with city matters.

"We have no information that ties the city or any of its contracts into this investigation, or anything that shows that similar kind of problems are occurring in the city," he said.

Some have raised questions about whether a city trails project Advantage Asphalt is building near Ortiz's south-side home is the subject of investigation. Romero said he has no reason to suspect impropriety.

Ortiz said the only Advantage contract that he thinks he shouldn't be involved with as a councilor is the one for work near his home. When a change order for that contract is before City Council, he said, he is likely to make that clear.

"I may announce that I am going to abstain because of all the media attention that has been brought that Advantage Asphalt is now known to be my client," he said. "If it was not for the media accounts, I do not think it is my business as a lawyer to tell anyone who my client is unless my client tells me to do so. That is my obligation to my client. As long as my obligation to my client does not conflict with my obligation as a city councilor, I think that I have done and will continue to do the right thing."

City documents show that the company was awarded the contract for $174,085 for the Pueblos del Sol trails in September 2008. Since then, the city Public Works Department has recommended change orders of an additional $170,000 to provide more work, including disability compliance, drainage and other park improvements. An amendment that city staff say will be the last was included among agenda items for Monday's Finance Committee meeting.

Councilor Rosemary Romero asked a few questions about the contract at Monday's meeting before the committee voted to send the matter to the full City Council for a vote.

"Given what's been in the newspapers about this particular contractor, I want to make sure we are doing everything on the up and up," she said.

Councilor Carmichael Dominguez said at the hearing that he understood the investigation at Santa Fe County to be more about process than about a particular company.

"I'm confident in our staff and that we are clean in terms of the process," he said.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.