FORT WAYNE – Fort Wayne City Council members may no longer be able to use their own judgment on whether their actions are ethical.
The council last week introduced an ethics code that defines conflicts of interest and requires its members to disclose their financial interests.
It was previously up to council members to disclose conflicts and decide for themselves whether they should vote on different matters. Councilwoman Karen Goldner, D-2nd, author of the bill, said while she doesn’t believe there were ethical problems, it’s better to have defined rules.
“It’s important for the rules for council members to be very clear,” she said.
An effort to look at rules for the council, however, could extend into defining new and permanent rules for the mayor and city staff. Councilman Mitch Harper, R-4th, said he supports Goldner’s efforts but also said it’s important to have similar rules for city officials outside the council.
Joe Fox, spokesman for Mayor Tom Henry, said the administration is investigating options for putting a city ethics code into law.
An executive order signed by then-Mayor Graham Richard in 2001 – and continued by Henry – regulates the behavior of city employees regarding outside employment and conduct as a city worker. It also details how violations will be addressed. It requires the mayor, his department heads and mayoral appointees to boards and commissions to file a disclosure listing possible conflicts.
Harper said an executive order can be rescinded at any time by a mayor and might not be as stringently enforced as a law. In fact, Henry did not have a disclosure on record with the city last week despite a memo from City Attorney Carol Taylor sent March 5 saying that all forms were due by March 19. The memo specifies that a “public servant who fails to submit a form when required commits conflict of interest, a Class D felony.”
Fox said the mayor believed he had filed the disclosure statement – as he had done promptly in 2009 – but the form may have been lost. His name was clearly not recorded as having filed a form in the city attorney’s office.
Henry filed a new disclosure form Thursday. It did not list any potential conflicts.
Goldner filed a disclosure form this year – she filed because of a board appointment, not her council position – which states she will receive between $3,000 and $6,000 from a Downtown Improvement District contract with her employer, Ruffolo Benson. The city provides tax money to the district, prompting her disclosure.
Council rules
The ordinance drafted by Goldner defines a conflict of interest as something that would benefit council members or their spouses or children by more than $1,000. A conflict also can be created depending on how a vote affects a council member’s finances in relationship to the general public.
The bill requires council members to disclose those conflicts as they become known and then excuse themselves from the discussion and vote on that issue.
Goldner said she can’t remember a time when a council member would have violated such a law, but it was important to make it clear.
She said she has gotten general support from other members of council, although some have suggested changes.
Harper, for example, said he wanted to include whistle-blower protections for people who reveal when a council member or city employee breaks the ethics code.
The proposed ordinance requires all council members to disclose their employers and any other business interests and a list of gifts valued at more than $100 received from people who do business with the city. The business disclosure also applies to people who file to run for City Council positions.
Council members would be prohibited from using council equipment for personal use or political purposes under the bill.
Goldner said the bill was a combination of state law and the ethics code used in Indianapolis. It could come up for discussion as early as Tuesday.
