Tisbury’s outgoing town administrator John (Jay) Grande is facing an ethics complaint filed by a town employee who claims he was improperly working with an engineering firm that has several projects in the local permitting process.

Planning board administrator Amy Upton, who is back on the job after a weeks-long paid leave imposed by town administrator Mr. Grande, filed the conflict of interest complaint against Mr. Grande with the state ethics commission in October.

Ms. Upton’s complaint suggests Mr. Grande may be biased in favor of developer Xerxes Aghassipour and other developers, because they are clients of the town administrator’s next employer, Sourati Engineering Group in Vineyard Haven, said Ms. Upton’s attorney, Casey Dobel. 

“What the complaint alleges is that [he] has violated the conflict of interest laws, particularly … against self dealing,” Ms. Dobel told the Gazette.

Ethics complaints are not made public until after an ethics investigation is conducted by the state, and Ms. Dobel and her client were discussing whether to release the complaint.

There’s no timetable for a decision by the ethics commission, which will not provide a response if it decides not to act on Ms. Upton’s complaint, Ms. Dobel said.

Mr. Grande, who is set to step down after the end of this month, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

The ethics complaint came around the same time Mr. Grande told Ms. Upton she was being investigated for alleged misconduct and infractions of town policies.

Mr. Grande placed Ms. Upton on leave on Oct. 29 following the release of text message and emails in which she made derogatory and occasionally coarse observations about other town officials and Mr. Aghassipour, who obtained the communications through a public records request and included them in an application to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission. 

Though Ms. Upton has now returned to work, Ms. Dobel said she and her client had not seen the results of the investigation.

Tisbury select board chair John Cahill said Mr. Grande asked board members individually, earlier this year, if they would mind if he spent a few hours a week at Sourati in order to prepare for his coming full-time job as a manager for the civil engineering firm.

“He was the one who came to us, and wanted to make sure he did so ethically,” said Mr. Cahill, adding that Mr. Grande told board members he would work for Sourati outside his normal hours for the town.

Sourati has done work for Mr. Aghassipour on the controversial development of a nine-bedroom home on Spring street. Neighbors claim the home will be used for workforce housing, despite Tisbury having a bylaw that prohibits more than five unrelated people renting rooms in a home.

Mr. Grande has advised against enforcement of the bylaw, saying if it was applied to the Spring street home and then town-wide, it would likely displace several residents. 

Ms. Dobel said Mr. Grande should have followed state ethics procedures calling for formal notification of the select board and a public hearing, but Mr. Cahill said he believes the town administrator is acting ethically and continues to put Tisbury first.

“Jay’s always been dedicated to the town, [and] it’s not like he’s working 30 hours on the side a week,” Mr. Cahill said. 

“As far as I know, he’s not on the payroll [at] Sourati,” he added.

Mr. Grande started working as the Tisbury town administrator in 2013 after a long career with the city of Framingham.