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Palm Beach Council Sneakily Opposes County Ethics Reform
Saturday, October 23rd, 2010
Robert Wechsler
According to an
article in the Palm Beach Daily News, Florida law "forbids
government bodies from advocating for voters to vote yes or no in a
referendum election, and from spending funds to advertise for that
purpose." But as with all laws, there are ways to end-run this
prohibition, and the town of Palm Beach's council and city attorney
found a way.
The subject of the referendum? Yes, it's giving the county ethics commission and inspector general jurisdiction over the town's officials. And yes, the council members do not want to cede jurisdiction.
The result is a resolution that states that the council members unanimously but individually "determined that making this county charter amendment applicable within the Town of Palm Beach would not be in the interests of the residents and taxpayers ...” Not to mention, of course, the council members themselves.
The town's ethics program consists of an "internal auditor" (an outside firm paid by the hour to do purely financial oversight), an ethics hotline (calls to be addressed by the police and human resources), and the council's ethics and finance and taxation committees. There appears to be no ethics code or board, no ethics training, no ethics adviser, and no financial disclosure. There is a state ethics program applicable to local governments, but it is a relatively weak program that has done little to stop rampant unethical conduct in Florida local governments.
The council president is quoted as saying, “The ramifications of this are absolutely draconian for our town. We don’t have the issues of the county and do a pretty good job of policing ourselves.”
The reporter notes that the mayor and council failed to mention that "the former town construction manager was fired in May and faces multiple charges for an alleged kickback scheme with town contractors."
For more on the county ethics program, see the following blog posts:
Independent Offices and Independent Ethics Enforcement
The Ethics Pledge
July Update
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
The subject of the referendum? Yes, it's giving the county ethics commission and inspector general jurisdiction over the town's officials. And yes, the council members do not want to cede jurisdiction.
The result is a resolution that states that the council members unanimously but individually "determined that making this county charter amendment applicable within the Town of Palm Beach would not be in the interests of the residents and taxpayers ...” Not to mention, of course, the council members themselves.
The town's ethics program consists of an "internal auditor" (an outside firm paid by the hour to do purely financial oversight), an ethics hotline (calls to be addressed by the police and human resources), and the council's ethics and finance and taxation committees. There appears to be no ethics code or board, no ethics training, no ethics adviser, and no financial disclosure. There is a state ethics program applicable to local governments, but it is a relatively weak program that has done little to stop rampant unethical conduct in Florida local governments.
The council president is quoted as saying, “The ramifications of this are absolutely draconian for our town. We don’t have the issues of the county and do a pretty good job of policing ourselves.”
The reporter notes that the mayor and council failed to mention that "the former town construction manager was fired in May and faces multiple charges for an alleged kickback scheme with town contractors."
For more on the county ethics program, see the following blog posts:
Independent Offices and Independent Ethics Enforcement
The Ethics Pledge
July Update
Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics
---
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