On the League of California Cities’ website you will find some excellent information. In particular, take a look at the Public Service Ethical Dilemmas Analyzed page. The site says: Check out our analysis of a series of commonly faced dilemmas, including their legal and ethical dimensions. You can download, free of charge, analysis of everyday ethics issues such as
- Commitment to Nonprofit Causes and Public Service (Western City, August 2008)
- Property Ownership in Your Jurisdiction
- Promoting Civility at Public Meetings
- Using Public Resources for Charitable Purposes
- What to do When You Suspect an Ethics Problem: An Eight-Step Strategy
Although we are not an incorporated city, nearly all of the information applies to our community leaders. Several months back, Elizabeth Bettenhausen posted an article on California’s website of the Fair Political Practices Commission which lists AB 1234 Ethics Training for Local Officials, a California Law that was passed in Oct. 2005. You can click that item in the left column of the home page and actually take the ethics training yourself. I took the training course and earned my certificate. I know Director Muril Clift also earned his. I recommend it for everyone. Its an education in the complexity of the decisions that elected officials face all the time. It’s not as easy as it seems.
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Last 5 posts by Amanda Rice
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Thanks for your ethics review. Note all CSD board members and dept. heads have to complete a min. of 2 hours ethics training every 2 years. We completed ours earlier this year. As an example of one of the challenges I faced was not being able to be involved in the East-West ranch purchase. Living less than 300 ft. from the ranch it was considered I might benefit from the purchase so must abstain. The counter to that would be if a majority of board members lived near the ranch and could thus benefit, we could publicly state our “interest” and then vote appropriately. Thus an action to benefit the whole town (example placing water tanks in one neigborhood) is not seen as an ethical challenge.