There's that little public admonishment of Cherie Kidd to settle....
The next city council meeting will get recommendations from the ethics board over the latest ethics complaint filed by the former mayor's wife, Marie Wiggins, who withdrew her complaint, which she wrote the following letter to the council earlier in August, see page I-18 in agenda packet provided.
However, during the next council meeting the council will receive some recommendations from the ethics board, according the the staff memo provided:
"There have been four complaints filed against City Councilmembers since February, all alleging that council members violated the City’s Code of Ethical Conduct as outlined in Chapter 2.78 of the Port Angeles Municipal Code. As directed by the ordinance, the Council assemble 3-member boards from a pool of pre-approved applicants to serve on Boards to receive, investigate and make recommendations for disposition of the complaints
Chronology of complaints:
1. February 4, 2016, Marolee Smith filed a complaint against Deputy Mayor Cherie Kidd.
The findings and the recommendation of Board (1) are included Attachment 1.
2. February 19, 2016, the group Our Water-Our Choice filed a complaint against Deputy
Mayor Cherie Kidd and Councilmember Dan Gase. The findings and recommendation of
Board (2) are included Attachment 2.
3. March 1, 2016, Marolee Smith filed a complaint against Mayor Patrick Downie. Ms.
Smith withdrew her complaint on August 5, 2016. Her letter of withdrawal is included as
Attachment 3.
4. May 2, 2016, Marie Wiggins filed a complaint against Council members Sissi Bruch, Brad Collins, Michael Merideth and Lee Whetham. Ms. Wiggins withdrew her complaint on August 16. Her letter of withdrawal is included as Attachment 4. As noted above, Complaints 3 and 4 were withdrawn, and therefore no further action of Council is required. Of the two ethics complaints that went forward, Boards (1) and (2) have submitted their written findings of fact, conclusions, and recommended for disposition to Council. Council’s role now is to fulfill its requirement to review the Boards’ recommendations and determine what action, if any, to take in their disposition. If Council chooses to take action, Chapter 2.78.080 outlines Council’s options. That section is included as Attachment 5.
Review of the Ordinance
As stated in prior memos to Council, the four complaints filed since February are the first since the Code of Ethics was adopted in 2012. While the four complaints were being processed, staff received numerous comments from Councilmembers as well as from public, all to the effect that these first complaints provided a test-run of the Ethics Code. Most agree that after the complaints have been heard and concluded, Council and staff should then review the Code and make changes as appropriate. After the Council’s final disposition of the complaints, staff will begin to review how this process has worked and suggest modifications and adjustments to the ordinance. These suggested changes will be brought to Council for consideration at a future meeting.
Funding Overview: There was funding associated with the legal representation of Councilmembers in defending themselves during the process associated with Boards 1 and 2, however, there is no necessary funding anticipated for Council’s review and disposition of the complaints. The total amount spent on outside legal representation was $20,000. "
Editorial Note: One thing is not settled as of yet, who will publically admonish Cherie Kidd? If they don't admonish her for her part in the February meeting, you must as well shred that code of ethics all the good it is. It will be like saying: " let's just ignore what we passed as ethics and code of conduct" Whetham is correct the entire ethics code needs to be reviewed.
see city council packet starting on page I-1: http://wa-portangeles.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/3309
