After just one meeting with the Board of Aldermen, members of the Board of Ethics are proposing “a different approach” to reviewing its proposed Code of Ethics — one that eliminates their attendance at Aldermen meetings.
Ethics chairman Maria Davis last week sent Aldermanic president John Anglace a letter informing him of her board’s decision.
“After much discussion, the Board of Ethics is recommending a different approach for reviewing the proposed Code of Ethics ordinance,” Davis wrote.
The Aldermen should spend time “reading, reviewing and discussing the proposed ordinance,” she said, and compile a list of questions for the ethics board.
“Once the Board of Ethics has received your questions, we can meet on our own to address concerns and then we would welcome another joint meeting with the aldermen, or…we can respond in writing to your concerns.”
“I can understand how they feel,” Anglace said, especially in light of the two-plus years the ethics board worked on the changes. But, he said, he thought his board’s approach — reviewing the proposal with the ethics board members at the table — was the best way to do it.
“I was hoping their presence would add to to the discussion,” he said. “But we will continue on — we can’t compel them to be there.”
Last month the Aldermen began looking at the proposed changes, almost two years after the ethics board submitted them.
There were several reasons for the time lapse: several Aldermen had ill family members to tend to, and the state legislature was in the midst of its own ethics code revision that was thought to include mandates on local boards.
But the state never completed its work, so now local officials are ready to move forward, Anglace said.
“We waited on them and nothing came out of it,” he said of the state’s work.
At the same time, the integrity of Shelton public officials was called into question during the federal trial of developer James Botti.
It might be harder to do it without ethics members on hand, he said, but the Aldermen will continue and ultimately will hold a public hearing on the changes.
“They believe in their position so we have to go in two different directions,” he said. “I can’t say if it is good or bad.”
In her letter, Davis said the board has a wealth of information at its fingertips in the ethic board’s meeting minutes.
“It will certainly help you understand our intent,” she wrote
The Aldermen will meet next on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at City Hall to continue discussing the proposed changes.
