The Leander City Council's April 5 agenda includes tackling several large items for the city, such as the annexation of more than 1,800 acres into the city, the Lakeline extension project and a resolution opposing the listing of several salamanders as endangered. However, the most hotly contested issues on the agenda stand to be two items concerning alleged ethics violations by Mayor John Cowman and Councilman Chris Fielder, who will face off against each other for mayor in the May 12 election.

Agenda item 13 calls for discussion and possible action to consider referring "reported actions of Mayor fo the Ethics Commission." The item was sponsored by Councilman David Siebold and Councilwoman Michell Cantwell.

Siebold said he and Cantwell requested the agenda item after reading a story in the Austin American-Statesman reporting that an investigation into alleged misconduct by Cowman had been sent to the attorney general.

"It appears there's something to it, so it's us doing the responsible thing and not looking like we're ignoring or hiding it," Siebold said.

He said any action taken would depend on the wishes of the council as a whole and on Cowman's reaction.

"I'm concerned with the impact it could have on the city," Siebold said. "That's part of our discussion. How do we deal with it, and how do we minimize any potential damage?"

Cowman sponsored an additional agenda item, listed on a separate agenda, tasking the council with looking into whether or not it should refer to the Ethics Commission a letter sent by Fielder to the human resources director. Cowman said when he saw the item regarding possibly sending a complaint about him to the ethics commission, he thought it would be a good time to bring up another ethics issue that had been brought to his attention. He said the question is if it is acceptable for the council to be involved in hiring city employees.

"I said, 'Let's bring this up and address this and see if the city manager wants the City Council involved in the hiring process of city employees," Cowman said.

Fielder said the letter in question is a letter of recommendation he wrote for economic development assistant Eric Zeno when he applied for the position in 2010.

The letter, dated Oct. 10, 2010, said Fielder thought Zeno would be good for the job because Fielder had known him for seven years, both personally and professionally, and Zeno has "great work ethics, personal beliefs and truly has a passion for developing Leander."

"When people are in trouble like Mr. Cowman is, the first thing they do is refuse to take accoutnability for their own actions, and then they try to find someone else to blame. This is how you win elections, and that's what he is trying to do," Fielder said. "I just want to continue to focus on showing the citizens of Leander that I am the best candidate for the job. If he wants to discuss ethics, he better come at me with more than a letter of recommendation."