Thoughts from the recent County Board Workshop on October 16th……regarding that “Code of Conduct”

I attended the recent County Board workshop where the first item on the agenda was the proposed “Code of Conduct”. It quickly became clear that the majority of the Board members (AKA Fink,Forsberg,Raukar,Nelson) have no intention of adopting any such Code anytime soon.

Commissioner Fink immediately indicated that he objected to the statement “Each public servant is expected to model respect, trustworthiness and fairness in all county related activities and relationships” under the broad heading of “Respect”. He did not believe that “respect, trustworthiness and fairness” were related to one another! Additionally, he requested that the document have a “definitions” page so everyone would know what these terms mean.

Some commissioners were concerned that language about “prohibiting” specific types of behavior should not be in the Code. Another area of controversy was with respect to the proposed Ethics Committee and review panel. Some commissioners were very concerned that these bodies might actually have the ability to investigate complaints and make recommendations regarding action. They clearly were threatened by this concept.

It should be noted that Commissioner Fink was especially challenging at this meeting, questioning most aspects of the draft Code but when asked how he would improve it, responded, “I have no recommendation” and “That was not my responsibility” (to come up with alternative language).

Specific language regarding harassment included the statement, “The County is committed to ensuring that no employee feels endangered or unreasonably uncomfortable in their workplace”. Some commissioners objected to the term “feels” and thought an employee needed to actually “be” endangered or unreasonably uncomfortable in their workplace”.

All in all it was a disappointing session but one that just reinforces the need to keep “watching” the County Board.