New information on Lynn Chaffin 2005 Ethics Violations

A reader as received a response to an open document request regarding a ethics violation finding regarding Lynn Chaffin and her employment as a Senior Information Technology Manager for the City of Dallas. The reader was kind enough to share the response to his open document request with this blog. (See the entire finding below.)

In July of 2005, an internal investigation concluded that three employees,including CFBISD Board of Trustee President Lynn (Lyndal) Chaffin. The three employees involved in a City of Dallas vendor selection committee violated ethics rules by having improper contact with the company that won a $5.2 million job overhauling the city's emergency 911 computer system.(Alleged Ethics Violations Fault Top Officials)

According to the CBS11 report: "Chief Kay, Capt. Coffman and Lyndal Chaffin denied to investigators that they had committed any wrongdoing or that they were unduly influenced by accepting meals from Tritech executives, including one June 8 celebration dinner discovered by CBS-11 the very evening the City Council approved Tritech's contract. The celebratory dinner attended by the three officials took place at the posh Al Biernat's in Oak Lawn where a Kobe/Angus filet mignon steak costs $69.
Despite denials of wrongdoing, investigators stated in their report that Chief Kay, Capt. Coffman and Lyndal Chaffin all "failed to avoid the risk and appearance of impropriety that was depicted by the Channel 11 newscast" by attending the celebration dinner at Al Biernat's. Investigators also upheld a second allegation that Chief Kay accepted a meal from Tritech in March, months before the council approved the tentative selection of Tritech as the vendor."

The city's computer aided dispatch system has the focus of controversy since it was first installed. The automated system, known by the acronym CAD, is used by the city to help dispatch emergency personnel based on information from 911 calls.
911 in 'serious trouble'
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Ms. Chaffin is employed as the city's Senior Information Technology Manager. Ms. Chaffin was a CFBISD Board of Trustee at the of the ethic violation. Subsequently, Ms. Chaffin was elected board president in May of 2009 after John Tepper lost his bid for re-election to the board to Richard Fleming. Ms. Chaffin has challenged Mr. Fleming eligibility claiming a strict adherence to the law.
lyndal Chaffin