Chandler Council discusses ethics policy, takes no action

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

A discussion of potential new Chandler City Council policy didn’t lead to any official action or even a vote — but it was a lively exchange.

Council member Jane Poston requested an item be placed on the Feb. 26 regular meeting agenda for implementing an ethics policy and possible direction to staff to review and return with recommendations,” a staff report states.

But after council grilled Poston during a Feb. 23 study session about which types of issues, situations or conflicts she wanted policy to address, Poston requested the item be withdrawn from the Feb. 26 agenda, which was granted.

The Feb. 23 hour-long discussion didn’t really become heated, but became somewhat dicey at times.

Poston said she wanted to involve the entire council and some staff time into researching and assembling either general or detailed ethics policies for the council. She said most large organizations have such policies, though contrasts and comparisons among Arizona governments would have been one of the information-gathering aims of Poston’s.

“I don’t know what this would look like,” Council member Matt Orlando said. “I don’t know whether it’s going to be a resolution, a policy, an ordinance or on the back of a napkin. I think due diligence would be a good place to start to see what it could look like. We need to see what’s out there, what’s not out there, what do we already have. Once we get a package together, we could hold a work session and see if we want to move forward.”

Mayor Kevin Hartke was among those struck by the lack of specifics in Poston’s request.

“I’m still not hearing the problem yet, that we need to solve,” Hartke said.

Poston said she wants to be proactive and get ahead of ethics “before there’s a problem,” and was responding to criticism from her constituents over the city not having a more detailed policy.

The city’s charter only references ethics in the broadest of terms in a few places, deferring to the city manager to create and enforce many types of ethics policies, including those around grants and contracts.

City Attorney Kelly Schwab pointed out that not only are there some state laws in place, but also city anti-bullying, anti-harassment policies as well.

Schwab said her department not only walks new council members through open meetings laws and other regularly encountered ethics areas as part of an onboarding orientation, and attorneys are available to council regularly for newfound ethics questions.

The general approach taken by a handful of other East Valley cities was discussed, though at least several Arizona municipalities appear to have the same types of general guidance contained in Chandler’s charter.

Hartke told Poston he had expected more specifics from her on ethics areas to call for when the Feb. 26 agenda was finalized, and said Feb. 23 there was still time to accomplish such tailoring before the Feb. 26 meeting.

“I was quite clear on what I wanted to do,” Hartke said. “I was concerned about council bullying staff. I was concerned about board members acting in improprietous ways to staff. I had a close, careful mission of what I wanted to do with this. I need to know the mission and the scope.”

Watch the entire discussion by clicking here.

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.