Ethics Commission
Minutes of Special Meeting
Held at The Town Hall
Tuesday September 16th 2008
7:30 PM
A. Call meeting to order: The meeting was called to order by Bob Witcomb at 7:40PM. Commission members present were Magnus, Hautaniemi and O’Brien. Basler joined at 7:55PM.
B. Public Comment: No members of the public or press were present but Chairman Whitcomb said that he had been advised by Bill Falland that he did have some carry over comment from the last meeting of the formation committee and that he would allow this comment at a later time if Mr Falland turned up.
C. Select Alternates and Ombudsman: This was really one and the same and a lengthy discussion followed during which the Commission reviewed all the original applications that had been made for the Commission itself.
The Commission felt that the Code of Ethics was not clear on two points and the Chairman would discuss these with Town Counsel.
We assumed that the appointment of an alternate would be for two years but would be renewable.
We were unclear whether being a member of another commission such as the wet land would automatically disqualify someone or being a member of the Old Lyme Democratic committee but not an officer would automatically disqualify a person.
We were very mindful of the requirement to ensure an equal party split.
Depending on the answers from Counsel Chairman Witcomb would contact a number of persons in a selected order and ask if they were willing to be Ombudsman/Alternates
Names of those willing will be included in the minutes of the next meeting.
The acceptance of the list was proposed by Magnus seconded by Hautaniemi and unanimously approved
D. Web site: The Town web site for the Ethics Commission needs to be tidied up and a lot of the stuff referring to the formation committee removed. Magnus would discuss this with Ruth Roach who it was understood was in charge of this.
E. Complaint Form: Magnus advised that the wording had been approved by the Town Counsel. It was suggested that the form be dated at the bottom for reference/revision etc and that a date handed to the Town Clerk line be added, with these revisions the adoption of the form was proposed by Whitcomb and seconded by Magnus and was passed unanimously
F. 2009 meetings: After some discussion it was decided that we should meet four times a year in normal circumstances and that this should be at 7;30PM on the third Tuesday of January, April, July and October. Proposed by Whitcomb seconded by Basler and passes unanimously. The secretary agreed to write and formally inform the Town Clerk
H. Adherence to FOI requirements: This was discussed and we all agreed that none of us was fully aware of what was required but that we would make every effort to comply and to this end we would request the First Selectman to arrange for a visit from the appropriate person from state to inform us. The Secretary would write a suitable request.
Adjourn; Proposed by Basler seconded by Hautaneimi passed
unanimously and the meeting closed at 9;02PM
Submitted in draft: Michael F Magnus
September 2008
Approved_______________
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