The chair of the beleaguered Birmingham Water Works Board did not violate ethics laws when she voted to approve a series of grants to a local nonprofit, state officials declared today.

Earlier this week, Tereshia Huffman, who currently leads the board overseeing Alabama’s largest water utility, was accused of conflicts of interest and violating policy regarding four grants totaling $40,000 over two years.

“After a review of the information provided in the complaint, we have determined that there is no evidence on the face of the complaint that would constitute a violation of the Ethics Act,” Brian H. Patterson, assistant general counsel for the Ethics Commission, wrote in a letter to Huffman on Friday.

According to the anonymous complaint Huffman was accused of failing to disclose family relationships to organizers of groups who received the grant money.

“I am a woman of faith who values her integrity above all else. When false accusations were filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission, those who know me, my work ethic and my character all knew that the truth would quickly be revealed,” Huffman said in a statement to AL.com. “I would never damage my reputation or the reputation of the Birmingham Water Works in any way. As Chair of the board, I have supported BWW’s ethics policies without hesitation.”

Huffman is a cousin to the Hilliard family, a well-known politically-connected family whose members include former Congressman Earl Hilliard and Earl Hillard Jr., a senior aide to Mayor Randall Woodfin.

Grant awards from the water works are made by the board collectively after the utility’s lawyers vet them, water works officials said.

The complaint against Huffman came at a critical time for the utility, just a day before state senators considered legislation that would fire the current board and strip Birmingham of its longtime dominance over the utility’s management.

A regional board would replace it with five of the seven members from the suburbs and surrounding counties. Birmingham would have just two seats on the panel.

The senate bill was approved overwhelmingly Thursday, and the house version heads to the floor next week.

Huffman and her supporters on board Wednesday spent considerable time lambasting the complaint and whoever filed it as part of a politically motivated conspiracy to undermine both the agency and its chair.

Several board members hinted that they knew some of those behind the complaint and vowed to find the others.

“At some point in time we’re going to find out who wrote this complaint,” board member Dalton NeSmith, an attorney from Blount County, said Wednesday. “That’s all I’m going to say about that.”

While board members assailed the ethics complaint and the complainant, state law offers some protection to whistleblowers.

Section 36-25-24 of the Alabama Code prohibits employers from retaliating against public employees who in good faith report violations. On the other hand, supervisors are allowed to take civil action against employees who file reports without good faith.