City Council votes on ethical guide for City staff.
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Last year, some residents asked the Santa Clarita City Council to develop a code of ethics. The request was met by the council with little resistance, other than a request that the discussion be postponed until after the election.
So after much investigation, City staff gathered a series of ethical guidelines from existing city material and crafted a distinct policy.
A handful of speakers commented on the proposed code of ethics, with many thanking the City for putting it together, However, most of them urged the city to take the code of ethics beyond what the law requires them to.
The City's Governmental Affairs chief Mike Murphy details the new Code of Ethics
Some questioned the lack of specifically identified consequences for violating the code. If the violation actually breaks a law, then the violator would be held accountable by public agencies, such as the Fair Political Practices Commission. However, those that are do not rise to the criminal level will be left to the City Manager to deal with. If the issue involves the City Manager, then the City Council would have the authority. Furthermore, if a City Council member is a violator of the code, then the rest of the Council would take on the judgement.
In addition to the consequences, many speakers asked that the public be allowed to weigh in on the code, and that protection for whistleblowers be included. Currently, City staff explained that protections are already built into City policy and expressed multiple times to all parties involved.
The City Council passed the code of ethics unanimously.
There were two other noteworthy items addressed at Tuesday’s City Council session. Click below to read a full article on those:
