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ORDINANCE
COMMITTEE MINUTES
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Any request for minutes prior to August 15, 2006
may be made directly to the Law Department
203-854-7750 |
CITY OF NORWALK
COMBINED ORDINANCE AND ETHICS COMMITTEE MEETING
AND REGULAR ORDINANCE MEETING
OCTOBER 17, 2006
ATTENDANCE: Michael Coffey, Council President; Douglas Sutton, Ordinance
Committee; Kelly Straniti, Ordinance Committee; Carvin Hillard,
Ordinance Committee; Douglas Hempstead, Ethics Committee
STAFF: Peter Nolan, Corporation Counsel
OTHERS: Mayor Richard Moccia, Richard Bonenfant, Joseph Robideux
CALL TO ORDER
Mr. Coffey called the meeting to order at 8:01 p.m.
1. ROLL CALL
Mr. Coffey called the roll. A quorum was present from the Ordinance Committee.
2. PUBLIC HEARING
a. Proposed Ethics Code
Mr. Coffey called the public hearing on the Proposed Ethics Code to order at 8:03 p.m. He briefly reviewed the procedure for the members of the public that were present.
Mayor Moccia approached the podium and greeted the members of both committees. Mayor Moccia then stated that he believes that the Ethics Code does need to be overhauled and that the sooner this is done, the better it will be for Norwalk. He said that he could not remember any previous administration tainting the City, but that fine tuning the Ethics Code would be a positive move. Mayor Moccia then commended Mr. Coffey on this proposal and thanked both Committee members for their efforts.
Mr. Bonenfant, a resident of 17 Parkview Avenue and former Council member, addressed the joint committees next. He informed the members of the committees that during his time on the Council, he had been a member of the Ethics Committee. He reminded the committee members about a situation where a former city employee had come before one of the committees as a paid consultant shortly after leaving his city position. It was important, Mr. Bonenfant felt, to address this type of situation. However, he had questions about the length of time that someone should be required to wait before accepting certain types of paid consultancy positions after leaving city employment.
Mr. Bonenfant also had some concerns about the issue of having blanket authority to apply for and accept grants without Council approval. This was an area that the joint committee might wish to consider carefully.
His final concern centered on whether or not Norwalk as a municipality had the statutory authority to impeach someone. Mr. Bonenfant encouraged Corporation Counsel to research this matter carefully. Mr. Bonenfant then thanked the members of the joint committees for their time.
Mr. Robideux, of 5 Dairy Farm Road, then addressed the joint committee members. He stated that he was in support of the updating of the Ethics Code. Mr. Robideux said that he was concerned about politicians becoming involved in questionable activities. Regarding the policy on gift giving, Mr. Robideux felt that nominal gifts were fine, but that the code needs to be clear on where the line is.
Another concern Mr. Robideux expressed was in a situation where a person was involved in an organization before becoming an elected official, served their term and then used their experience to assist their organization following the conclusion of their term, that this would be fine. Those who use their experience as paid consultants following a term of office are profiting from the office. He then thanked the joint committee members for their time and attention.
Mr. Coffey then asked if there were any additional members of the public who wished to speak either for against this issue. There was no one else who wished to speak on the matter.
Hearing none, Mr. Coffey then closed the public hearing on the Proposed Ethics Code at 8:16 p.m. Mr. Coffey stated that this would conclude the joint session of the Ethics and Ordinance Committees meeting.
3. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
** MS. STRANINI MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS SUBMITTED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
4. OLD BUSINESS
a. Proposed Ethics Code
Mr. Coffey stated that the public hearing had produced a positive response from those who had spoken to the joint members of the committees.
Ms. Straniti had a question about the wording of the ordinance in Section B.
Mr. Coffey explained that this was intended to prevent former employees from
becoming lobbyists. When an elected official leaves office, they take with them
an enormous amount of influence regarding City matters. Mr. Coffey stated that
serving with a volunteer organization was not a conflict in his eyes. The question
was where to draw the line.
Attorney Nolan suggested adding the phrase “for hire” to the Section for clarity.
Mr. Coffey then commented that both Mr. Hillard and Mr. Hempstead had expressed concerns about the gifts policy. Mr. Hillard stated that he felt elected officials should be able to accept gifts of $50. $25 dollars was too low and that could be easily done during a luncheon meeting. Mr. Hempstead asked what the policy was concerning charitable events. Attorney Nolan said that the policy as it stands currently, has no exceptions. This includes Christmas baskets, social meals, ribbon cuttings. It was mentioned that the reason that the elected officials were invited to events like this was because the public wanted the officials to be there. Mr. Coffey asked Corporation Counsel to look into this. Attorney Nolan said that the current code is very narrow. He also pointed out that this would be applicable to every City employee, including union and non-union. This will require review by the union lawyers.
Mr. Hempstead asked about situations where misleading information is presented to the Council members. Mr. Coffey replied that this issue was included in the code revisions already and read the section regarding this for the joint committee members.
Mr. Coffey stated that this item would be included in a future agenda after Corporation Counsel has the opportunity to incorporate the suggestion and clarify the points under discussion.
b. Living Wage
Mr. Coffey stated that he had been requested to table this matter until a later date. This was agreeable to all.
4. ACTION
There was no action to be taken by the joint committee members at this time.
5. ADJOURNMENT
** MS. STRANITI MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services
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