City Council ponders possible changes to ethics code

In executive session Tuesday, the Maricopa City Council is scheduled to discuss “potential revisions to the Code of Ethics.”

The possible changes are “based on the application of the Code of Ethics since its adoption and prior investigations, and to give direction on how to proceed” pursuant to state law. City Hall did not respond to an inquiry about which section of the Code of Ethics had come into question.

Executive sessions are closed to the public.

The Code of Ethics is more than six pages long (see below) and applies to elected city officials. There are five possible sanctions attached to violations of the code.

The ethics code was adopted in 2013 at the suggestion of an investigating attorney a year after the council dealt with complaints of sexual harassment against then-Councilmember Alan Marchione. That investigation concluded Marchione did not sexually harass or threaten employees but was “abrasive.”

The ethics code was designed as a guide for elected-official behavior and to provide means of disciplining those who misbehave.

It was first used in 2014 when the council officially warned Councilwoman Julia Gusse after she called a former councilmember a bully during a public interview. At the same time, Gusse accused then-Councilmember Edward Farrell of violating the code when he used profane language in a private meeting to discuss email between Farrell and Gusse. The council voted that Farrell did not violate the code.

While the code has come into play in council discussions since then, even prompting investigations, it has not led to an official vote for or against censure.

Gusse, Mayor Christian Price and then-Councilmember Peg Chapados comprised the task force that created the Code of Ethics.

 

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