Harrisburg mayor fined by Ethics Commission for using city dumpster for personal trash

The state Ethics Commission ordered Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams to pay a $912.70 fine for instructing city employees to deliver a city-owned dumpster to her home in 2022 for her personal use.

Williams agreed to pay the fine instead of going through a hearing, which the commission said would have found her in violation of state ethics laws.

The commission found Williams used her personal cellphone in May 2022 to text then Public Works Director Nate Spriggs asking him to “bring back” a city dumpster to her home. “My residents have also utilized the dumpster!” she added.

Williams had previously insisted the city dumpster was available to the whole neighborhood.

“He didn’t do it just for me,” Williams said at the time.

Over the next week, city employees hauled the fully filled dumpster between the mayor’s residence and the trash dump at the Susquehanna Resource Management Complex at least three times, using two city-owned trucks. This was around the time the mayor and her husband moved to a new home.

On June 3, 2022, Williams again texted Spriggs, asking him to “bring the dumpster back,” adding that “this will be the last time.”

Under city law, Harrisburg residents must pay an upfront $230 fee to use a dumpster for up to 10 days, plus another $214.25 per ton of waste, in dumping fees. The waste from Williams’ property cost $1,491.18. The commission found no records that she paid any of those fees.

Harrisburg taxpayers have already paid tens of thousands of dollars on legal representation for the mayor in connection with investigations by the state Ethics Commission and a high-profile lawsuit by former Public Works Director Nate Spriggs.

Earlier last month, a Dauphin County judge ordered the Williams administration —for the second time — to release almost 1,500 invoices that would show how much taxpayer money has been spent in total. The records are due by Nov. 3, one day before the mayoral election where she will face off against City Treasurer Dan Miller.

Marc Weinstein, the attorney representing Spriggs, said the administration had 30 days to file an appeal but hasn’t, suggesting it plans to comply and submit the invoices by Nov. 3.

Mayor Williams did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Under Pennsylvania’s Public Official and Employee Ethics Act, government officials are prohibited from engaging in conduct that creates a conflict of interest, including any benefit in the form of money, property, or other economic gain.

State ethics commission Executive Director Mary Fox said the agency’s investigations are focused on “enforcing the public trust in government.”

Williams has agreed not to be reimbursed with taxpayer dollars for the fine.

The ethics investigation is an offshoot from Spriggs’ pending lawsuit, which claims he was fired June 2022 for repeatedly refusing to promote Williams’ son, Dion Dockens, to a supervisory position within the public works department at Williams’ behest.

Spriggs was also fired because he voiced concerns that Williams broke state law by trying to pressure him into promoting her son, he said.

Williams and the city — as two separate defendants — argue Spriggs was fired for seeking raises for himself and Austin Griffin, his deputy director, despite being told not to do so.

City spokeswoman Mischelle Moyer previously called Spriggs’ attorney Weinstein a “showboater” who is “very much into propaganda.”

In response, Weinstein said his challenges to the Williams administration “…is not showboating. It’s transparency. Just because they lack it doesn’t mean we won’t pursue it.”