Council to weigh ballot measure on code of ethics 

Last edited 12:23 p.m., Jan. 4, 2024 [Editor's note: Clarifying language has been added.]

Springfield City Council has agreed to ballot language that would revise the city charter’s code of ethics for elected officials, appointed officers, board members and city employees, with the requirement that council maintain and review its ethics policy at least every other year. 

The proposed updates to the code, which would require voter approval, include a provision that states employees violating the code of ethics are subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination. As the charter language currently exists, it calls for termination of an employee who violates the ethics code. The revision is intended to protect city employees who could be impacted by the policy, and particularly lower-level workers who may unknowingly violate the code. Forfeiture of position will continue to apply to council members, officers and board members. 

Council members gave a provisional OK to the language at a meeting of the governing body’s Committee of the Whole yesterday. Adoption of the ballot language will be taken up at the next regular council meeting, set for Jan. 8. 

The ordinance to be considered by council would set the language of the amendment and submit it for inclusion on the April 2 ballot.  

The ethics language has been under consideration in committee for almost a year. Its current incarnation bars elected officials, appointed officers and board members from having substantial financial interest, whether direct or indirect, in any contract with the city. In the existing code, city employees are barred from having financial interest in a city contract, but the proposed change would afford them a disciplinary review. 

The language given the provisional nod by the committee states, “A prior, written advisory opinion from the city attorney, obtained and relied upon in good faith, shall be a defense under this section.” 

City Manager Jason Gage said the language is intended to communicate to voters that employees would be subject to the full breadth of the disciplinary process. The intention of the revisions, he said, is to prevent violations. 

Also at the Jan. 8 meeting, council will consider another ballot item that asks voters to approve extending the term of the city’s mayor to four years from two. The measure does not apply to the current mayor, Ken McClure, who is in his final term of office. Council voted to approve that ballot language on Dec. 4.