Broward County staff could have same code ethics as commissioners

Broward County employees could be expected to abide by the exact same ethics code as the county commissioners—pending the results of the ethics commission. Since Nov. 2008, after voters approved the ethics commission to create a code of ethics for Broward commissioners, a group of Broward residents have met to discuss the contents of the proposed code. The ethics commission, appointed by county commissioners, has until March 2010 to present a code for the county commission to vote on. On Tuesday, asked the county commission to take a philosophical stance on whether or not they felt the same ethics code could apply to county employees.
“I am reluctant to vote for something that I haven’t seen in writing,” said Commissioner Stacy Ritter, who eventually voted for preparing a resolution but expressed concerns that unintended consequences could prevent staff, particularly procurement, from completing their work. “I’ve read their minutes and I vehemently object to some of the things they want to do. I’d be very careful about passing a resolution about a body of which we know not.”
Commissioner Lois Wexler supported the concept philosophically while Commssioner Albert Jones, who was appointed to the commission by Gov. Charlie Crist after former commissioner Josephus Eggelletion was arrested on corruption charges, said he felt the focus of the code was for elected officials, though he eventually supported preparing a resolution.
“I applaud the efforts to try and shape this where it should be going…but we have to do first things first,” said Jones. “The basis for me sitting here is not staff –me sitting here is dealing with elected officials and the (voters) do not feel very good about us, so it seems to me we got the wrong handle of the bat and we need something for elected officials. I feel we are the target.”
Commissioner Kristen Jacobs, who felt members of advisory boards should be held to the same code, cautioned against jumping into a position without seeing the code in writing, saying the ethics commission was mired in discussing unintended consequences and used the ethics code in Deerfield Beach as an example.
“The concern in Deerfield was a tremendous amount of unintended consequences. In Deerfield, two commissioners were taken out and the result was a kneejerk reaction to pass ethics changes,” said Jacobs, who agreed employees should be held to an ethics code, but wanted to see the code before a final decision. “The unintended consequence is that it trips up good people and people in the city have an even more sour view because they think more rules have been broken.”
While several commissioners had concerns approving this without seeing the code, the commission unanimously voted to prepare a resolution for the Jan. 12 meeting that said the commission philosophically agreed with the concept of employees following the same ethics code, but that the commission reserves the right for the final decision once they have a code in writing.
Commissioner John Rodstrom said he agreed in theory, though he added an example of a county that passed an ethics code and four of the seven commissioner went to prison regardless of the code in place.
“This is an olive branch of sorts—telegraphs to us where the majority of the commission is going,” said Mayor Ken Keechl. “Generally speaking, they are asking us if it is the will of the board that is what is good for us, is good for our staff— but quite honestly it might be a good thing.”
The commission, after a lengthy hour-long discussion, unanimously approved to prepare a resolution that says the commission philosophically agrees with the concept of applying the ethics code to county employees, but reserves the right to review the code once presented before deciding to apply the code to staff. The commission will discuss the resolution again on Jan. 12. Once the ethics commission presents a code in March, the commission has 180 days to approve the code, or it will go on the November 2010 ballot for the voters to approve.