Old Lyme Ethics Commission
Minutes of Regular Meeting
Held at The Town Hall
Tuesday January 20th 2009
The meeting was called to order by Bob Witcomb (chair) at 7.32 PM
Present were Michael Magnus, Brian Hautaniemi and Michael O’Brien.
In attendance Barry Harrison (Ombudsman)
No press were present
Two members of the public were present who volunteered their names as Bill Fallon and Milton Allen
- The minutes of the September 16th October 21st 2008 meetings were approved without alteration.
- The points raised during public comment on Oct 21st were discussed and it was agreed
- This was essentially irrelevant
- It was agreed that the complaint form be changed so that the complaint should be mailed to the Chair of The Ethics Commission C/O The Town Clerk 52 Lyme Street Old Lyme CT 06371 rather than to The Town Clerk. This would ensure that no complaints could be raised on the question of secrecy and relieved The Town Clerk of this responsibility.
- It was agreed that paragraph A of the form be amended to cover the full wording of the Code namely all public officials, officers and public employees, whether elected and/or appointed, paid or unpaid
- The Town Clerk would no longer see the form and its receipt would be acknowledged by the commission directly
- This was discussed and the point was well taken and the Chair agreed to approach The Town Clerk to ensure that a secure file would be available to the commission to store any such records so that even though they are confidential they would not be destroyed
- This is covered in 4 above
- The Ombudsmen’s records will be entirely private although he could well be called as part of the witness process by the Commission
- The complaint form will include a request for –e-mail address (optional)-.
- Public comment - Concern was expressed at the potential clash of interests if the commission were to use the Town Lawyer. The Commission made clear that we were well aware of this and had all along planned to have outside council for anything other than minor
Complaints
It was then suggested that we really should have a budget and all agreed that this was an excellent idea. The Chair agreed to approach the First Selectman and arrange this.
- The Secretary reported that all the alternates and the ombudsman had returned their signed agreements and had signed the waivers. We still need to ensure that all have been sworn in.
- All confirmed that they were fully aware of the rules and had attended the training session. We agreed to do our best to comply.
- The Code and omitted words- The town lawyer had checked with someone at State and had advised that in their opinion nothing really needed to be done however the Chair and Secretary had suggested to Marylin that it would be better to have it corrected at the next Town meeting which was scheduled to be held on January 26th and she had come up with the following - to amend section 43-7.A(4)of the Old Lyme General Code regarding the selection by the Ethics Commission of an ombudsman that such ombudsman shall serve with no defined term of office but at the pleasure of the Commission, and that such ombudsman may be, but shall not be required to be an alternate member of the Commission or a member of the former Ethics Formation Committee. This was agreed by all but it was felt that the reference to the
formation committee was rather redundant as that committee had been disbanded and dismissed as soon as the commission was elected. It was agreed to try and do this if it was still possible at this late stage and the Secretary agreed to attend the Town meeting and see if this could be done. Change proposed by Magnus seconded by Hautautiemi and agreed by all
- Town certification that all employees etc had received and acknowledged the Code had not been received and although we believed that this had been delegated to the Town Clerk it remained the responsibility of the Selectmen to provide the Commission with this. The chair agreed to see the First selectman and the Town Clerk to pursue this.
- We did not believe that the selectmen had made any real effort to ensure that all the people involved had been made aware of the existence of the Commission or the Code or the Ombudsman and the Chair agreed to see the First Selectman about (the secretary being unavailable due to jury duty). It was also agreed that the best way to get the information out would be an article in the quarterly town magazine which all residents received. The Chair undertook to discuss this with the First Selectman and write a suitable article for inclusion in the next issue.
- The complaint form was reviewed and apart from B2 above concern was expressed at the need for swearing in front of a notary public as this might discourage people from making complaints. At the same time having to swear would probably eliminate frivolous claims. Mr. Fallon provided the Commission with the wording used by Glastonbury and after considerable discussion it was unanimously agreed that we should try this wording at least for a probationary period and see how it works. This would mean changing the form at the signature level by deleting the words- swear or affirm- and inserting- declare – and deleting the Notary Public section. A revised complaint form is attached.
- A motion to adjourn was proposed by Magnus and seconded by Hautaniemi and all agreed. The meeting closed at 9.10 PM
The next regular meeting is scheduled for April 21st 2009 at 7.30 PM at the Town Hall
Submitted in draft
January 24th 2009
Michael F Magnus
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