INQUIRY CLEARS CITY LAWYER OF CONFLICT.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MIKE GOODWIN Staff writer

City Corporation Counsel Michael Brockbank committed no ethical violations when he directed $11,000 worth of city real estate business to his private practice, the Ethics Board has ruled.

But in a letter to Brockbank, the city board wrote that the arrangement ``may have created an appearance of impropriety to the residents of Schenectady.''

Brockbank claims he saved the city money when he had an attorney in his firm, Robert B. Augspurger, handle closings on the sale of tax-foreclosed properties. He claimed it was cheaper to have his firm do the work than have the city hire Augspurger as a $28,000-a-year part-time …