Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
SUBSTITUTE Amending Section 3.35(4) and creating Section 3.35(12)(d) of the Madison General Ordinances to limit the types of complaints that the Ethics Board may hear under Sec. 3.35(4) of the Ethics Code, and to require that any complaint filed against a managerial employee or a committee member be forwarded to the Mayor.
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DRAFTER'S ANALYSIS: Several times within the last five years, persons have filed complaints with the Ethics Board alleging violations of Sec. 3.35(4), MGO, of the Ethics Code. This is a general section reminding persons covered by the Code to follow the law. In these instances, there was no allegation of a conflict of interest, misuse of property, personal gain or any other part of the Ethics Code’s “Standards of Conduct” section. In one case, a claim was brought against Ethics Board members for a “breach of law” by allegedly ruling incorrectly on an Ethics complaint.
Until recently, the Ethics Board (and the Common Council Organizational Committee) in the case of the complaint against the Ethics Board) ruled such allegations were outside their jurisdiction, on the grounds that it would make any legal error (say, a parking ticket) the basis for an Ethics Board complaint. Recently, one member of the Ethics Board suggested this section be clarified. This ordinance change codifies the prior Ethics Board rulings that there must an allegation of a violation of some section other than Sec. 3.35(4) to give the Ethics Board jurisdiction, or if jurisdiction is asserted under Sec. 3.35(4) alone, that some legal entity has found a violation of another legal duty.
Second, at the request of the Mayor, the Code is amended to be certain the Mayor is notified by receipt of a copy of any ethics complaint filed against a city managerial employee or a member of a city committee. This allows the Mayor to determine if discipline or removal from committee membership is appropriate, outside of the Eth...
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