REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Annual Review of City's Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials
Report
DISCUSSION
This report represents Council's annual opportunity to review and revise the City's Code of Ethics and Conduct for Elected and Appointed Officials (hereafter referred to as "the Code").
The Code contains a section on ethical standards and a section on conduct which describes the way officials should treat one another, City staff, constituents, and others with whom they may come in contact with while representing the City.
No substantive changes to the Code are proposed by staff.
The Human Relations Commission recommended Council strengthen the language included on Page 13, under the Members Behavior and Conduct heading with the following changes:
"City Councilmembers who intentionally and repeatedly do not follow proper conduct may shall be reprimanded or formally censured by the Council, lose seniority and/or committee assignments (both internal and inter-governmental) and/or have official travel restricted. Serious infractions could shall lead to other sanctions as deemed appropriate by Council."
A Human Relations Commission meeting minutes with that recommendation are included as Attachment 7. Should a Councilmember desire to make these or other changes to the Code, this agenda item can be pulled from the Consent Calendar for discussion and modified direction from Council. Staff does not recommend changing "may/could" to "shall" in this section because doing so would likely create additional uncertainty (e.g. when are infractions intentional or "serious" enough for discipline and at what level). The current wording allows for flexibility that leaves these decisions to Council's discretion.
The City's boards and commissions completed their annual review of the Code during the months of September 2024 through January 2025.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a "project" within the mean...
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