Any charges against a council member will be brought before this commission. A sub-committee the commission members will review the charges and determine if the charges have any merit at all. If the charges are found to be of substantial concern by the sub-committee, then the full panel will review the allegations. One consequence of this commission from a council member s perspective is that if he or she needs to hire an attorney to appear before the commission, the expense is not reimbursed, even if the allegation ultimately proved to be unfounded and baseless. In my opinion, this potential legal expenditure will act as a further deterrent to citizens who might otherwise wish to run for city council.
Additional provisions tighten the policies even further.
If you would like to have a copy of the new ethics code, they will be available in August. If so, I will let you know in my next column. Yes, on Friday, June 16 th . The spill was caused by an electrical short circuit at the Cadiz pump station. Five of six pumps shut down during the recent heavy rains.