by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Independence.
This was a key word in a suggestion made by an ethics expert who met with the City of Jacksonville’s Ethics Commission as it gathered information at a planning session during its regular monthly meeting Monday at City Hall.
“You’ve seen our code,” said Scott Shine, one of the newer members of the commission. “What suggestions do you have for us?”
The reply was succinct.
“This commission needs to be independent,” said Robert Meyer, executive director of the Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission. “You have a better chance of being credible in the community if you are an independent body.”
Meyer is the director of a commission that was created in 1996 when the citizens of Miami-Dade County voted to amend its Home Rule Charter to create an Ethics Commission, and the Board of County Commissioners created the Commission on Ethics and Public Trust, which is an independent agency that can provide opinions on government activity and has quasi-judicial powers. These include subpoena powers and are backed up by seven investigators.
“We are not connected to government and we are protected in that people voted to have an ethics commission,” said Meyer, “so they would have to vote not to have a commission in order to take away our funding.”
The Miami-Dade County Ethics Commission operates on a larger scale than Jacksonville with about 40,000 people that fall under its authority. It issues about 300 opinions a year regarding the activities of its government, Meyer said.
Meyer and Mark Davies, executive director of the New York City Conflict of Interest Board, were the key speakers at the planning session and helped provide valuable information as the local Ethics Commission shapes its identity.
“We don’t necessarily want to mirror everything Miami has done because what they have done may not translate to what we can do,” said Carla Miller, ethics officer for the City of Jacksonville. “But they have a lot of great information and experience. Robert (Meyer) suggested that we take it a step at a time and that is so key in the development of the commission, forging something that can be effective for the community.”
The nine-member volunteer board will take time to digest the information it gathered at the meeting and bring ideas for the direction of the commission to the May 26 regular commission meeting.
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