County must adopt ethics policy by June 30
A new ethics policy mandated by the state will restrict county elected officials, board members and employees from accepting gifts ? of any kind ? for personal use.
The policy will also require county officials, particularly those who vote on or deal with monetary issues, to sign a conflict of interest form publicly disclosing any personal interests that might affect their votes or decisions on policy or budget allocations and file it with the County Clerk.
All Tennessee county and municipal governments were directed to formally adopt an ethics policy by June 30 of this year. The UT County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS), was charged with developing a model policy document, which was distributed to county commissioners at the commission?s April meeting so they could go over it prior to a vote at this month?s meeting.
However, County Executive John Pelham says the county wasn?t actually required to use the CTAS policy as presented.
?We were told we could adopt it as is, adopt it with changes, or generate our own,? Pelham said. ?The CTAS policy was not mandated. It was a guideline for us to go by.?
After a recent Policy and Personnel Committee meeting, attended by representatives of CTAS, the county opted to go with the CTAS document, though with one minor change.
?As the commissioners had a opportunity to read this there were two specific things that they had questions about,? Pelham said. ?One of the things was that the CTAS policy calls for us to establish an ethics committee, where if there?s a problem or anyone has a concern, they have guidelines to follow to lodge a complaint with the ethics committee.
?We felt like here in Warren County, since we already have a Policy and Personnel Committee, rather than form yet another committee, to just let our Policy and Personnel Committee handle that.?
The CTAS representatives agreed that would be acceptable, noting other counties had done something similar.
The second item was a little more involved, requiring a consultation with CTAS lawyers before it was resolved. This had to do with the conflict of interest public disclosure regulations in the policy.
?We saw that there could be a fairly large conflict here,? Pelham said. ?There?s actually a form you have to fill out and have on file in Lesa Scott?s office that lists any possible conflicts of interest you have in voting on issues.
?For instance, an example of that would be a county commissioner whose wife is a teacher and voting on the overall budget, when the overall budget funds the school system. Another example, and I?m just thinking of these because we have these situations, is if we had a sheriff?s department employee on the commission voting on the budget and the budget funds the sheriff?s department.?
In most situations, if the conflict of interest form is filed and the commissioner openly announces the conflict prior to any vote affecting that issue, then there will be no problem. However, failure to disclose the conflict of interest could legally invalidate the commissioner?s vote.
?Stating you have a conflict of interest does not mean you can?t vote,? Pelham said. ?You?re just stating you have a conflict, but that conflict in no way influences your ability to vote for what you feel is best for this county.?
The main issue that caused concern was that several commissioners serve on the boards of local non-profits which receive funding from the county, and whether this would prohibit them from voting on budget allocations for these organizations. The CTAS representatives were unsure about this, but after a consultation with CTAS legal counsel subsequently advised Pelham?s office in writing that as long as the commissioners received no compensation for serving on these boards and filed a conflict of interest form, they could legally vote on their allocations.
Warren County?s ethics policy is now in its final draft and, after final approval by the Policy and Personnel Committee, will be presented to the County Commission for a vote this month.