There are open meeting laws, of course, and access to public records laws, but rules of conduct are not part of the municipal code. Although a handful of towns and villages have adopted ethics policies, most of Vermont gets by on a sense of what's right at the time, without any overriding direction on conduct. This report offers several ideas to address some of the problems facing local officials. It begins by recognizing that the laws we have in place are generally good for what they attempt to do, but that there is a dearth of good law on the way local officials should behave while holding public office. The Law We Have.
School districts have the most comprehensive laws on conflict of interest.
No member of a board may vote on any issue involving a direct benefit to himself or herself. Towns have no similar statutes to guide them. Officials acting in a quasi-judicial capacity are also governed by a law on conflict of interest. No one with a direct or personal interest in the outcome of a decision may participate in that case. The law even proscribes hearing a case involving near relatives, by blood or marriage, and defines where to draw the line.