BY JIMMY LAWTON North Country This Week OGDENSBURG – A public hearing will be held July 8 at city hall to discuss the adoption of a new ethics code. Ogdensburg City Council voted to hold the …
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BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week
OGDENSBURG – A public hearing will be held July 8 at city hall to discuss the adoption of a new ethics code.
Ogdensburg City Council voted to hold the hearing on a plan to delete the existing ethics code and replace with a new one.
The proposed ethics code can be found on the city’s website.
City Manager Sarah Purdy said state officials recommended the update. She said the existing code was adopted in 1975 and is just three pages long. She said that code didn’t even include a section on nepotism.
“The old one was adopted in 1975, and a lot has changed since then in regard to the ethics of being an employee or elected official of any public sector organization in New York. There is a much greater expectation of transparency and disclosure today than there was 44 years ago,” she said.
According to Purdy, the new ethics code includes more detailed explanations of the following:
• Under what circumstances disclosure of interest in legislation or other matters is required
• Under what circumstances recusal or abstention from voting are and are not required
• What the restrictions are for private employment so that it does not conflict with public office
• What the restrictions are for future employment so that it does not conflict with the previous public office
• What are the restrictions on soliciting gifts, as well as the restrictions and procedures in acceptance of gifts?
City council will likely vote on the new ethics code following the July 8 public hearing.