Four-year ethics code revamping enters final stage in Norwalk
NORWALK — After nearly four years, the revamping of the city’s code of ethics is reaching its final stage, with the Common Council set to vote on changes early next week.
Most of the changes are updates to language, clearly defining terms used by the city and ensuring consistency throughout the code, the assistant corporation council working on the project, Brian Candela, said.
“A lot of the changes that were made I would classify them as ‘in the weeds’ changes, as simple as capitalizing defined terms, making sure if it was changed in one section it is consistent in another,” he said. “Some of the changes were pretty small and others of them weren’t. Some are incredibly long and complex and those required more work.”
One of the most complicated changes was to the conflict of interest definition.
The changes limit conflicts of interest for city officials or employees just to immediate family or business partners. It removed the clause that extends that definition to any person or group close to the employee.
Immediate family members include anyone whose legally resides at the employee’s home and includes anyone who is related to them by blood, marriage or adoption. The definition extends to stepparents, in-laws and grandchildren, according to the code.
The changes were approved by the ordinance committee at its Dec. 15 meeting. Next, the changes will be voted on by the Common Council on Jan. 12,
Candela said.
Alongside the code of ethics updates, the Citizens’ Guide to Code of Ethics, written by the Board of Ethics as a companion guide to the code, has been updated, he added.
“I was asked to start working with the Board of Ethics on this in 2017,” Candela said. “It started before I got there. I was told they were working on updating the code of ethics. My understanding was they made amendments because it had been a long time.”
The city’s code of ethics and guide have not been updated since 2009, according to the guide.
Of the ordinance committee members, only Common Council member Tom Livingston has been on the committee since the ethics project began. “One of the reasons it’s taken so long is we’ve taken a lot of time and we’re making sure it works,” Livingston said. “It was a long but important process and it’s important we have a strong code of ethics, which I think we do.”
The code of ethics falls under chapter 32 of the city’s ordinances, meaning the ethics board, the Ordinance Committee and the Common Council must approve changes to the code before they can be made.
The citizens’ guide will not be shared online until the last code changes have been finalized by the council and the guide draft updated to reflect the changes. However, council-approved code changes were updated online shortly after their approval, Candela said.
Should the changes be approved by the Common Council on Tuesday, at the council’s first meeting of the year, both the citizens’ guide and the code of ethics will be updated and shared online shortly thereafter, Candela said.