Former Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden. (Photo by Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs)

A former D.C. deputy mayor has agreed to pay a $3,000 fine to settle an ethics investigation into her use of government staffers for childcare.

Former Deputy Mayor for Economic Opportunity Courtney Snowden signed a negotiated disposition with the Office of Government Ethics last week that listed out three separate occasions where she used or tried to use government staff to take care of her child. The fine was first reported by WAMU.

According to the Office of Government Ethics, on August 4, 2015, Snowden asked an unpaid intern, hired through the Mayor’s Leadership Engagement and Development Program, to take her child to her parents’ home in an Uber that Snowden paid for. The intern agreed. Snowden says the incident happened after the intern’s working hours, but is not contesting the timing to “facilitate expeditious resolution of this matter,” according to the disposition.

On August 13, 2015, Snowden left her child at her office while she attended a meeting. Snowden said she had called someone to come pick the child up, and staff at the office were charged with care of the child in the meantime. The caregiver never showed up because of car issues, according to the report, and staffers had to watch the child at the office until about 6:30 p.m., the disposition says.

On August 27, 2015, Snowden asked several staffers to pick her child up from school during work hours, per the Office of Government Ethics. No staffers agreed, and she ultimately picked up her child.

According to the disposition, Snowden “accepted full responsibility for her actions and expressed remorse.” She also asked the office to consider her status as a single mother, the long hours required by her position as deputy mayor, and the fact that the incidents all happened relatively early in her appointment. A November 2017 report by the Inspector General for the District of Columbia cleared Snowden of other allegations of unethical conduct, aside from the three child care instances.

Snowden no longer works for the Bowser administration. Latoya Foster, the mayor’s press secretary, said in a statement that, “We always believed that this issue was a management one—which was addressed months ago in Courtney’s chain of command. We hope that this decision doesn’t discourage other moms and dads from considering working for D.C. government, but challenges all of us to think about better ways to support parents throughout our government. We’re glad the matter is behind us, and we wish Courtney the best in her future endeavors.”

After more than three years, Snowden left her post last month after being dogged by controversy, including the ethics investigation and accusations that she skirted a school lottery for her child. Bowser’s office told the Washington Post that Snowden’s departure “[wasn’t] related to any ethics investigations” and she left to pursue opportunities in the private sector.