Councilman Bill Gaughan wants the state ethics commission to investigate the Scranton Municipal Park Authority’s decision to grant city manager Pat Hinton a concession lease at Nay Aug Park. Calling the agreement a sweetheart deal, Gaughan believes the contract violates the city’s ethics code.

Hinton, Scranton’s city licensing, inspection, and codes manager, won a contract last July to turn an unused Nay Aug Park restroom into a gourmet coffee shop. Although it has stood unused since 2010, the building was renovated by the Doherty Administration in 2005 and repurposed as a restroom. The idea for the concession came from Hinton, who was then the only person to answer a request for proposals issued by the authority.

Gaughan is concerned that the deal violates the city’s code of ethics, which reads, “No employee of the municipal government shall use any public property for personal benefit or profit.”

“It degrades the public confidence in elected officials and public employees. Because when people look at this they think, ‘there they go again, there goes the city of Scranton giving a favor or giving a bump to a city employee,'” said Gaughan in a statement to WNEP.

Gaughan has requested that city officials demonstrate where in the ethics law it permits Hinton to operate a private business on public property.