CITY TO TAKE ANOTHER STEP TOWARD CREATING ETHICS COMMISSION

Five months after Cape Girardeau voters approved creation of a city Ethics Commission, the City Council will take its second step toward doing so.

The council will meet at 7:30 tonight at City Hall. The Ethics Commission ordinance is on the agenda as a discussion item. If councilmen like the way it is written, the ordinance will be set for its first reading at a future meeting.

The charter amendment creating the Ethics Commission was one of the most controversial items on April's general election ballot. Some on the council, including Mayor Al Spradling III, thought establishing the commission was repetitive. The Missouri State Ethics Commission does the same thing as a local one would, he said.

That amendment, one among 12, had the lowest number of "yes" votes but still received overwhelming support, passing 1,548 to 750.

The City Council took its first step toward establishing the commission months ago, directing city staff to draft an ordinance establishing the commission. The draft on tonight's agenda is a result of that request.

In a letter to the council, City Attorney Eric Cunningham said the new ordinance is patterned after a similar state statute. The local law will allow the commission to investigate official conduct of the mayor, council members, city manager, chief purchasing officer, municipal judge and city board members.

Dr. Keith Russell served on the Charter Review Committee that proposed the Ethics Commission. Although he hasn't seen the proposed ordinance, he said Sunday it was appropriate the council was moving toward passage.

Russell said he and other Charter Review Committee members would watch closely as the new ordinance goes through the approval procedure.

"What we were after was to allow the voters to empower the council to establish the commission," he said. "We want the council to do that and to enable the commission to set its own rules and regulations."

While some decisions may be left to the seven commission members, many guidelines are set out in the proposed ordinance.

For example, there are strict guidelines for serving on the commission. No commissioner may be employed by the city, state or any political subdivision of the state. A commissioner can't serve on any other governmental board, be an officer of any political organization or make contributions to support a candidate or proposition.

All Ethics Commission members will be required to make full financial disclosure within 30 days of appointment and every year during their five-year terms.

They will investigate conflicts of interest, failure to disclose, failure to meet official qualifications and wrongful conduct.

There also will be rules for people who file complaints. All complaints will have to be written and signed under oath, state sufficient facts to establish a violation and include the names and addresses of any persons who witnessed wrongful conduct.

Another section of the proposed ordinance provides for punishment of people who file complaints maliciously and without just cause.

If the council chooses to pass the ordinance at a future meeting, the first seven commissioners' terms will be staggered. One will serve one year, one will serve two years, one will serve three years, two will serve four years and two will serve five years. Their replacements will serve full five-year terms.