A member of the Sierra Club’s Alamo Group has filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Ivy Taylor, alleging she inappropriately accepted campaign contributions from the owners of Pape-Dawson Engineers, who were involved in contract negotiations for the controversial Vista Ridge water pipeline.

Gay Wright, a member of the group’s executive committee, filed the complaint Thursday alleging that Taylor violated the city’s ethics code by accepting contributions from political contributors who stand to gain financially from the Vista Ridge contract. The complainant also alleges that Taylor circumvented campaign finance laws by accepting $1,000 checks — the limit from one person during a reporting period — from multiple members of the Dawson family.

It’s not uncommon or illegal for multiple members of a family to contribute to local politicians.

Taylor said she’s not concerned about the matter.

“From all the facts we have available, Pape-Dawson was in compliance with the city’s Municipal Campaign Finance Code, and neither I nor any member of City Council who received donations from Pape-Dawson or any of their officers should have concerns,” she said in a statement Monday.

The complaint cites a March 13 column by the San Antonio Express-News’ Gilbert Garcia, who wrote that it appeared Taylor violated “the spirit — if not the letter — of San Antonio’s Municipal Campaign Finance Code.” Local laws prohibit contributions being made by someone seeking a “high-profile” contract until at least a month after the contract has been awarded.

Pape-Dawson President Gene Dawson Jr. has said he worked pro bono for much of 2014 on the project. He told Garcia his firm “donated thousands of dollars of time and effort” to help negotiate a contract acceptable to the Spanish firm Abengoa and the San Antonio Water System.

When she was a council member for more than five years, Taylor received $300 from the Dawson family. From November 2014, days after the council voted to support the Vista Ridge project, through September 2015, Taylor received $18,000 from the Dawson family, Garcia reported. That includes a $1,000 contribution from Sam Dawson, CEO of the engineering firm, just days after the Oct. 30, 2014, council vote supporting the pipeline.

The details of the issue at hand, however, don’t technically appear to be a violation for Taylor. How the city’s ethics compliance auditor handles the complaint remains to be seen. Anything from an administrative dismissal to a full hearing of the Ethics Review Board could occur.

Meredith McGuire, co-chairwoman of the Sierra Club Alamo Group’s conservation committee, said in a phone interview that the complaint is based on the opposition to the Vista Ridge pipeline from a coalition of groups, including hers. Though the pipeline project is moving forward, its opponents are fighting to squash the deal, McGuire said. She said she recognizes that the ethics complaint against Taylor, even if it is successful, won’t derail the pipeline.

Nonetheless, the coalition is working on local and state levels to kill the project, she said.

“We’ve known all along that something really devious was happening behind the scenes because there was absolutely no opportunity for City Council to consider what was very, very wrong with the entire deal,” she said.

Opponents are concerned that the pipeline won’t accomplish what the city needs, that more water-intensive companies will move here, and that city leaders have placed corporate interests before the average citizen.

One major concern of the Sierra Club is that the project will reduce the need for conservation and fuel sprawl in the Hill Country.

The $3.4 billion pipeline would span 142 miles, from Burleson County northeast of Austin to San Antonio, and pipe in 16.3 billion gallons per year from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which would increase San Antonio’s water capacity by up to 20 percent.

The project has already had financial problems with Abengoa, the Spanish firm that contracted to build the pipeline. Last week, Taylor announced that to avoid bankruptcy, Abengoa’s construction partner, Garney Construction, agreed to purchase 80 percent of Abengoa’s stake in the project.