The City of Kirkland does not have a code of ethics. The council has been working toward adopting a code of ethics since 2009.
Mayor Joan McBride suggested the council adopt a code of ethics nearly two years ago after heated arguments and ethical issues plagued the council during the last session.
A five-member Ethics Task Force was formed, which drafted a code of ethics for the city last year. Modeled after the City of Seattle’s, the code of ethics addresses policy and rules, an ethics board to deliberate on ethics infractions and complaints and addressing infractions.
McBride said the council wants to take time and do things right.
“We have the ability to try and craft this the right way because this is a council that’s working very well and collegially with each other,” she said. “I think given the city’s recent history, this is even more of a reason to get this right and make sure it is built on good expectations of conduct.”
We applaud the city for making this effort to draft a solid and sustainable code of ethics.
But it’s time for the council to move ahead and adopt a code of ethics.
The council tabled the code of ethics discussion last November to make time for annexation issues. But with annexation underway on June 1, the council should have more time to address a code of ethics. The draft code of ethics will come before the council again at its regular council meeting on June 21.
McBride said the council does not plan to go through the whole ethics package. Councilman Dave Asher made some grammatical edits to the code and the verbiage is in place.
The major issue now is for the council to consider an independent board of ethics.
A board of ethics would help to ensure that city government adheres to the highest standards of public service for elected officials. This board would have investigative and enforcement power over city government, working to assure that city officials are held accountable.
The council wants to look closely at what a board of ethics could look like for the city. Some council members have issues with putting together a board of ethics that would be council-appointed, said McBride.
“So how do you get something that’s clearly for council members without prejudice,” she said.
Many cities do have council-appointed board of ethics members, such as the City of Philadelphia.
But there are some cities that take a different approach. The seven members of the City of Atlanta’s board are city residents selected by legal, business, civic and educational groups.
Other cities – including the cities of Danbury and Baltimore – go so far as to stipulate that one or more ethics board members must be an attorney of law in the state.
We agree with Atlanta’s approach and believe it would ultimately allow council members to avoid conflicts of interest.
But board or no board, whatever the council decides, it is time for the city to establish a code of ethics. The code should address some of the “lessons learned” over the preceding council session and ultimately help maintain the council’s collegial spirit of moving forward.
