by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The City’s Charter Revision Commission has an appetite for information and it received some surprise servings at it’s Thursday meeting.
City General Counsel Rick Mullaney attended the commission’s meeting to discuss how his office addresses conflicts of interest relating to when it represents both parties involved in a dispute, but he also revealed plans to revisit the City’s Ethics Code.
Commission member Gary Oliveras asked Mullaney if the work of the ethics commission and the public corruption section of the State Attorney’s Special Prosecution Unit are enough to help restore the public’s trust in government.
“For lack of a better term, we have watchdogs in place,” said Oliveras. “Is it enough?”
Mullaney helped draft the Code of Ethics that became law in 1999 and its purpose was to “create a comprehensive code of ethics, created an ethics officer system and gave new responsibilities to the ethics commission.”
“What’s happened a decade later, is that it has morphed into a body that sometimes, on occasion, has a vague idea of what they are supposed to be doing,” said Mullaney. “They are getting beyond the rule of law and compliance with ethics laws into giving opinions on what is good government.”
Mullaney referred to the recent debate over the contract to operate the City’s Trail Ridge Landfill.
“Trail Ridge went before the Ethics Commission, which, in my opinion, did not violate Chapter 112 of the Florida Statue. It did not violate Chapter 602 of our code,” said Mullaney. “It didn’t violate the rule of law, they just didn’t know if it was a good idea or not.”
His suggestion was to utilize the proper “resources and talent” to handle these matters.
“I believe we should empower the ethics officer to be more forceful in making those referrals to the appropriate place,” said Mullaney, discussing the ethics officers ability to refer ethics violations to the State Attorney’s office. “They should also be able to refer cases to the statewide ethics commission on matters they believe need to be investigated.”
This empowerment could be gained by reviewing and updating the current ethics code, which Mullaney plans to do.
“We need to go back and look at the code and make it clear, with clearly defined responsibilities,” said Mullaney. “I think we got it right with a comprehensive code, an ethics office and ethics commission system, but we’ve gone down a path with a lack of clarity and nobody wants to be victimized by that lack of clarity.”
Ethics Officer Carla Miller would like to see some of the code remain as it’s written including section 602.903(d):
“The Commission may, upon employee or citizen complaint, or upon its own initiative, seek information and gather facts for the purpose of investigating any circumstance or situation of which the Commission may become aware that appears to violate or may potentially violate an acceptable standard of conduct for City officers and employees. As a result of such investigation, the Commission may issue public censures, recommend disciplinary action, determine the need for remedial or preventative legislation, and make such recommendations to the Mayor and the Council as it deems appropriate.”
“We need to sit down at the table and, now that there has been activity over the last couple of years, see what has worked out and what hasn’t, and make adjustments from there,” said Miller. “The goal is, ‘is what we are doing increasing public trust?’ If yes, then great, but if we haven’t, find out how we can achieve that goal.”
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