"City's ethics law to get reworked - LAKE STATION: Lake Station lawyers will study legality of ordinance deemed unconstitutional," reads the headline to this story today in the Munster Times. Some quotes:
LAKE STATION -- Citing legal problems with the city's ethics ordinance, City Attorney Ray Szarmach urged the City Council to revisit the document and make sure potential violators are given due process. Szarmach said in its current form, the ordinance is unconstitutional. * * *The City of Dallas has a 43-page Code of Ethics; the City & County of Denver has an Ethics Handbook; the City of Las Vegas has a 34-page Code of Ethics; the City of Los Angeles has a 38-page Code of Ethics; and Miami-Dade County has a comprehensive website on ethics, including the ordinances in your choice of, to quote, "legalese" or "plain language." [Thanks to MuniNETGuide.com for the links.] The State of Illinois has a site providing a "Model Ethics Ordinance and the Guide to the Implementation of the Model Ethics Ordinance in order to assist local governmental bodies comply with the requirements" of the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act.While Councilman Rick Long, D-5th, said he understood some of Szarmach's interpretations, he said the Ethics Committee shouldn't be confused as a judicial body, but rather a body that makes recommendations to the City Council.
"We're not a court of law and we're not trying to be," Long, also a committee member, said. "We're just trying to hold people to a higher standard of living. If things are wrong or unethical, they need to be corrected."
Councilman and committee member Keith Soderquist said the ordinance was enacted to set ethical standards and raise issues. "I agree nothing is perfect, but we have to at least test the ordinance," Soderquist said. "We have to start somewhere. It's a good start and a positive step."
Ed Charbonneau, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Local Government Academy, also attended Thursday's council meeting and commended city officials for adopting an ethics ordinance and creating a discussion. "You're the first of the cities and towns in Northwest Indiana to have raised an issue," Charbonneau said. "It's an uncomfortable learning curve, but it's a cultural change we have to go through."
Closer to home, a 12/18/03 story in the Munster Times reports: "HOBART -- The City Council made history Wednesday night by unanimously adopting an ethics ordinance for all city employees and officials."
Finally, as this is by no means intended to be a comprehnsive survey, the City of Indianapolis has a Code of Ethics. This is also a 5-member Indianapolis-Marion County Board of Ethics.
Posted by Marcia Oddi at June 18, 2004 01:55 PM