Colorado Springs City Councilman Merv Bennett said he could be objective when considering a six-figure contract with the YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region even though he had been the CEO until his retirement last year.

But before the City Council voted on the contract Tuesday, Bennett told at least one of his colleagues in an email that he was “highly biased.”

“When I talked to him after (he sent the email), I said, ‘If you’re highly biased, I don’t care what the situation is, you need to recuse yourself,’” Councilwoman Angela Dougan said Friday.

Bennett told her he thought he should seek the legal advice of City Attorney Chris Melcher before he recused himself, Dougan said.

“He goes, ‘I was just saying that it would look like I was highly biased because I have worked with the YMCA so much.’ I said, ‘Are you or aren’t you (highly biased)?’ He said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Then make the decision, but don’t put in writing that you’re highly biased.’”

Bennett did not return a message seeking comment Friday.

On March 8, The Gazette requested all communication to and from Bennett pertaining to the city’s aquatic facilities.

The city responded to the request late Thursday with 50 pages of emails and other documents.

About half were redacted.

“The redactions in the document are based upon Attorney-Client Work Product, Work-Product of an Elected Official and/or related to Contract Negotiations,” Cindy Aubrey, Mayor Steve Bach’s Chief Communications Officer, said in an email.

The documents provided by the city did not include the email in which Bennett reportedly said he was “highly biased.”

Dougan said she didn’t know whether she still had the email but that she remembered the contents.

“Basically Merv stated he was going recuse himself due to his long connection with the YMCA” but that he was going to seek Melcher’s advice before a vote, Dougan said.

“I said, ‘Merv, I think your own answer answers itself when you say you might be ‘highly biased.’ But then he explained to me when he was saying he thought he was ‘highly biased’ is because of his work at the Y, not that he personally was biased,” she said.

“He just felt that because he was so involved with the Y that he would be considered highly biased,” she said.

Earlier this week, Bennett told The Gazette he had been willing to consider recusing himself from the vote but that he asked Melcher for an opinion first.

“I wanted to make sure that my participation didn’t in any way damage the legal agreement that might come forward,” he said Monday. “I was very prepared to recuse myself if it would have been able to damage the legal aspect of this agreement.”

In a March 10 email, Bennett informed his colleagues that the City Attorney’s Office “indicated I do not have any conflict of interest” and that he planned to participate in the discussion and vote.

That portion of the email was redacted by the city. However, the entire email was provided to The Gazette by another council member.

Bennett voted in favor of the agreement Tuesday.

The vote to authorize funding for the YMCA to operate six city-owned aquatic facilities passed on first reading 8-0. The contract will be up for a final vote in two weeks.

The five-year contract between the city and the YMCA calls for the city to subsidize the YMCA for any year-end shortfall “to the point of a break-even status.” The subsidy for 2012 is “estimated at no more than $632,350,” city documents state.

Dougan said she believed Bennett could be objective, saying he is a man of integrity.

“He didn’t get on council to make the Y take over the pools,” she said.

Photo by Gazette File