After months of work, ethics ordinance 491 passed first reading quickly and without fanfare at Wednesday night’s Silver Lake Village Board meeting. A pleased board accepted the updates to the proposal, which includes setting up a three-member Ethics Commission to handle complaints.
Attorney Linda Gray adapted the ordinance to comply with the existing state statutes. In the ordinance, the Village President would nominate members of the Ethics Commissions members and approved by a majority of the board of Trustees.
If approved after the second reading next month, the newly formed Ethics Commission will appoint a chairperson, and all written complaints of an ethics violation of this ordinance against a village employee or elected official will be submitted to the chairperson of the Ethics Commission.
Included in the responsibilities of this Commission is the power to issue subpoenas, administer oaths and investigate any violation of this ordinance or written complaint by any person. If a member of the Ethics Commission is the subject of an ethics complaint, or if there is a defined conflict of interest, a replacement member would be nominated by the Village President and approved by a majority of the Village Board of Trustees.
