Shelton’s new Board of Ethics met for the second time July 11 to come up with a plan of action for training city officials and employees about potential ethical pitfalls and conflicts of interest.
The board, recently reconstituted after more than a year in limbo, will meet again Oct. 3 to talk more about how to proceed.
By that time, Chairman Jack Bashar said he’ll also come up with proposals to revise the city’s ethics ordinance by reviewing the city’s current ethics ordinance, a proposed-but-never-adopted revision of the ordinance, and new state ethics guidelines with a view to drawing ideas.
Audio of the entire meeting is embedded below. Click the play button to listen. Article continues afterward.
Background
The last attempt to re-work the local ethics ordinance — by the members of the previously constituted ethics board — ended with Aldermen rejecting the proposal.
Click here to read more about the proposed changes, which would have set guidelines for public officials and employees on accepting gifts, disclosing information about business ties and using city equipment.
The issue of gifts to public officials has featured prominently since a years-long federal investigation uncovered allegations of gift-giving and influence-plying at City Hall.
Two developers, a developer’s father, and a city building official were convicted on various federal charges, though the case has been quiet for nearly two years. No high-level government officials have been indicted in connection with the probe.
But in that time City Hall hasn’t been immune to allegations of wrongdoing — former assistant finance director Sharon Scanlon resigned last summer and has since been charged by state police with stealing more than $900,000 from taxpayers.
The ethics issues will feature prominently in this year’s municipal elections, if a speech July 17 by Dave Gioiello, the chairman of the Shelton Democratic Town Committee and the party’s candidate for mayor this November, is any indication.
Gioiello harped on the alleged ethical lapses while speaking about his candidacy and suggested reforms of his own, including a blanket policy prohibiting city employees from accepting any gifts whatsoever.
Lots To Do, Shorthanded
The board has a number of tasks, including:
- Train elected officials and employees about their responsibilities under the current rules and propose revisions to the current ordinance.
- Adjudicate any new ethics complaints that might be filed.
And for the time being, do so while two members short of its full complement.
Prior to charter changes endorsed by voters last November, the mayor appointed members of the ethics board.
However, the responsibility now lies with Aldermen.
They unanimously appointed four members to the ethics board in February, but Paul Augustine, who was to be an unaffiliated member, resigned before the board’s first meeting.
The city charter mandates that no more than two members of the ethics board be from any one party — a reform Bashar said was crucial to maintaining transparency and fairness, since the last board disintegrated over confusion related to board members’ political affiliations.
Of the board’s current membership, Chairman Jack Bashar is a Democrat, and members Paul Bueker and Walter Drozeck are Republicans, leaving spots for a Democrat and an voter not affiliated with either major political party.
Drozeck said last month the Aldermen should make appointments to the board sooner rather than later.
“We’re trying to get this stuff and move it forward, we don’t want (new members) to be having to catch up and get overwhelmed,” he said.
Board of Aldermen President John Anglace said July 12 that Aldermen are reviewing candidates and “will fill the openings as soon as we can.”
Anglace was also somewhat optimistic about the prospects for changes to the ethics ordinance, “provided they are well thought out and fair to those served and those serving.”
Meanwhile, Bueker said that in October he’ll present ideas for a short training program for city employees and officials educating them about things like conflicts of interest, as well as an annual acknowledgement they could sign annually.
Bueker said he hopes use online ethics training offered by the state to its employees as a starting point.
City employees and officials last got formal training on ethics in 2008.
“It would be a fairly simple half-hour” program, Bueker said of the training. “Just a discussion of what the code of ethics is, why it’s there and why we need it, what’s covered by it, just the framework, (and) what are their responsibilities as employees or contractors or elected officials.”
