NEWS RELEASE, Office of Mayor Rybak March 21, 2003 The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a new Code of Ethics today, which was proposed by Mayor R.T. Rybak's Ethics Task Force.
"I've made the case for a long time that the City needs commonly agreed upon rules of conduct. We went through a process of getting input from citizens and employees. The result is a Code of Ethics that reflects our own community standards and the best practices in ethics law from across the country. This is a big reform," Mayor Rybak said. The new Code of Ethics includes new or revised policies on conflicts of interest, financial disclosure, nepotism and ethics enforcement mechanisms. These recommendations include: * Require elected officials and top political appointees to abstain from participating in decisions on matters where they have a conflict of interest. * Expand financial disclosure for elected officials, top political appointees and their spouses. * Establish a nepotism policy to prevent people from being able to supervise their close relatives. * Establish an Ethical Practices Board to resolve complaints against high-ranking officials. The complete code and a chart describing the major differences between the existing code and the suggested revised code can be found at: www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/priorities/ethics The site will be updated shortly to reflect amendments made by the City Council. "I'd like to thank Chair Trout and the members of the Ethics Task Force for all their work developing these important reforms, particularly the citizen members volunteering their time. The City owes them all a debt of gratitude," Mayor Rybak said. The Ethics Task Force Members are: Ellen Trout, Chair, Lynnhurst neighborhood; Dore Mead, Tangletown neighborhood; Cam Gordon, Seward neighborhood; Bill McCarthy, President, Central Labor Union; Jay Heffern, City Attorney; Ann Eilbracht, Director of Human Resources; Tim Giles, Director of Employee Relations Services; Peter Wagenius, Mayor's Office; Scott Benson, City Council (also Council author of new Code of Ethics). Laura Sether Office of Mayor Rybak Standish-Ericsson TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
