Last week, the Mayor's Office said the city's special events director improperly allowed a local advertising company to put an advertising kiosk inside City Hall.
Emails show the director, Tonisha Landry-Gaines, consulted with and received support from David DeCamp, the mayor's director of communications.
Adtronix Director of Marketing and Sales Antonio Gadsden said last week the company was able to place the kiosk in City Hall through contacts with city Chief Financial Officer Ronnie Belton and inferred that he also had contact with the mayor.
"I'm in touch with Alvin Brown," Gadsden said.
The kiosk was ordered removed by the General Counsel's Office hours after the Daily Record asked about it Wednesday. Chief of Staff Chris Hand said Thursday there were concerns about First Amendment fairness issues.
On Sunday, Hand called City Hall's handling of the issue a "teaching moment" for how matters should be handled in the future.
Last week, the Daily Record requested emails regarding the kiosk. On Sept. 5, Landry-Gaines received an email from Adtronix Director of Corporate Sales Leandrew Mills III outlining the "Saving X Sharing" campaign. The email states "Here is the information as discussed and promised."
Landry-Gaines emailed DeCamp on Sept. 11 that Adtronix was "running a 'pink' campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month" and proposed placing a display board in the atrium at City Hall.
In the email to DeCamp, she explained the display would have additional promotional ads along with the breast cancer awareness campaign.
Landry-Gaines said she didn't foresee an issue but asked DeCamp for "any feedback you may have prior to moving forward."
Within 30 minutes, DeCamp responded "Doesn't sound like an issue" and requested a list of the other ads that would be displayed. On Sept. 30, Landry-Gaines sent DeCamp a list of 10 advertisers.
After he received the list of advertisers, DeCamp responded to Landry-Gaines via email "Fine be (sic) me. Thanks for organizing it."
On Oct. 2, Landry-Gaines sent an email to Bill Dekle, city building manager, informing him the kiosk would be installed at City Hall Oct. 4, near the power outlet closest to the Lynwood Roberts Room, where it remained until Friday, after city lawyers directed it to be removed.
Hand said Sunday that Landry-Gaines was consulting DeCamp about the kiosk in his "communications role."
He said people often approach the city with ideas and in the future, more care will be taken to assess whether an idea is appropriate for city property, including allowing the General Counsel's Office to review proposals before they are implemented.
"Going forward, we know to consult subject matter experts. People will be more careful," Hand said. "We're going to use it as a teaching moment."
Hand said the mayor does not know Gadsden and had nothing to do with the installation of the kiosk.
On Friday, Belton denied having any knowledge of the company or of its kiosk being at City Hall until after it was installed.
Belton said James Banks Jr., who is a friend of his nephew, and Gadsden met with him Oct. 4 at City Hall so Belton could offer them business advice. Banks is the manager of Adtronix.
"They asked to chat. They said they were starting a business," said Belton.
He said that's when he saw the kiosk for the first time.
Belton said when he went to the atrium after the meeting with Banks and Gadsden to look at the kiosk, he either didn't see the ads or if he did see the ads, "it didn't register."
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