City Council to Consider Watering Down Code of Ethics

On Monday, June 8, 2015, beginning at 7 p.m., the Concord City Council will meet and vote on the following action items:

Public Hearings

24A. Resolution amending and restating the Revolving Loan Fund’s Program Income Reuse Plan (PIRP); together with a report from the Director of Redevelopment, Downtown Services, and Special Projects.

24B. Resolution authorizing the City Manager to submit an application in an amount of up to $500,000 and to accept and appropriate grant proceeds of up to $500,000 in Community Development Block Grant Funds on behalf of Merrimack Valley Day Care Services; together with report from the Director of Redevelopment, Downtown Services and Special Projects.

24C. Resolution readopting the City’s Displacement and Relocation Policy Statement and Procedures; together with report from the Director of Redevelopment, Downtown Service, and Special Projects.

24D. Ordinance Amending Code of Ordinances, Title I, General Code, by adding the following new Article 1-6, Code of Ethics; together with report from the Rules Committee.

The Code of Ethics changes include the following:

• Changes to 1-6-2 Purpose. Which removes the section at the end that states “[shall remove themselves from decision making if they have a conflict of interest]” and replaces it with “shall not introduce, speak on or vote on any motion, ordinance, resolution or issue in which he/she has a conflict of interest.”

This change would allow city council members to stay seated at the table during discussions of an issue that they may be in conflict with and not remove themselves which is what councilors have always historically been done in the past. Most notably in the last 13 years, former at-large Concord City Council Doris Ballard always left the table whenever CCTV was discussed by the council since she worked there. Former City Councilor Dick Patten would step away when any of the organizations he was involved in were discussed. Leaving the table for a short period of time may seem like an inconvenience. But it shows the public that elected officials are serious about not having any role in influencing legislation before the body. Even a twitch, smirk, grimace, or smile can be noticed by the other decision makers at the table and influence the outcome of anything while a councilor in conflict remains at the table (even if we all know that most of the decisions are already made before the council meeting even starts).

• Changes to 1-6-3 Definitions. Subsection, Conflict of Interest: A conflict of interest is [REMOVED LANGUAGE: defined as an actual conflict of interest] when a person takes an action or makes a decision that would affect his or her financial interests, business (ADDS: including any business which the person is a member of a governing body), or those (ADDS: financial interests or businesses of a family member). It REMOVES: [”An apparent conflict of interest is one that does not affect a person’s financial interests, but does call into question his or her objectivity and independence.”]

The change essentially loosens the definition of what historically has been considered a conflict of interest. The change would allow members of the city council to participate in decision making so long as there was no financial interest or benefit to the councilor or a family member. Here is where this is a problem, as an example: Since there are so many members who serve on nonprofit boards as volunteers, this change would essentially allow them to vote on proposals that benefited those boards or organizations so long as they or a family member had no financial benefit. This change goes against all known municipal body conflict of interest statutes and the entire purpose of having said language in any ordinance.

To read the full agenda of the Concord City Council in PDF form, visit the Agenda page for all boards, scroll down to City Council, and click on the June 8, 2015, date.