 In April 2013 the board passed the revised document, subject to the
input and approval of the Logan County state's attorney.
At that time the board understood that it could be a period of
time before the new state's attorney, Jonathan Wright, could address
the matter. Wright was deeply involved in preparing for a major
criminal trial.
Jan Schumacher, legislative committee chair, announced last month
that the committee had met with Wright in January and that he,
County Clerk and Recorder Sally Litterly-Turner, and finance
chairman Chuck Ruben had offered a few recommendations for revision,
which the committee approved.
Wright made a few recommendations.
The first was on language in the preamble. The preamble addresses
board member behavior, calling each to a high standard of ethical
behavior in duties, responsibilities and judgment.
Wright recommended stronger language on board members'
responsibility to protect confidential information. This included
removing "Respect the confidentiality of privileged information,"
and replacing it to read, "Refrain from disclosing privileged
information."
Another change to be made is to distinguish between action taken
on a personal account and as a county board member. Wright
recommended a replacement:
Wording removed:
Avoid participation
in any action which would result in a conflict of personal interest
with County responsibility. Refrain from obtaining improper personal
benefit with regard to public funds, equipment, property, or the
services of employees. Refrain from accepting gifts, favors or
promises of future benefit, which could tend to impair independence
of judgment or action as a Board member.
New wording:
Refrain from using
their title or position in any manner not related to their duties as
a county board member. Shall comply with the Logan County Ethics
Ordinance.
Under the topic "Meeting, deliberations, vote," Wright
recommended another change.
Wording removed:
Before the County
Board enters into a written legal contract with a public or private
entity, it should consider whether the State's Attorney's office
should be provided an opportunity to review the contract before it
is voted on by the full Board.
New wording:
Before the County
Board enters into a written legal contract with a public or private
entity, it shall send the contract to the State's Attorney's office
for review unless the board determines it is not necessary to do so.
Previous to the last election, the board voted to expand the
opportunity for the chairman and vice chairman positions to serve
two consecutive terms.
The board votes for three positions — chairman, vice chairman and
parliamentarian — at a special organizational meeting right after
the swearing-in of newly elected board members. The votes for
chairman and vice chairman have proven challenging the last few
times, with repeated ties.
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Litterly, who facilitates the board organization every two
years, suggested adding a caucus opportunity to aid in that
process if a tie vote would occur for either the chairman or
vice chairman positions.
That section now reads:
New wording:
The Chairman and
Vice-Chairman of the Board shall be elected at the first meeting of
the Board following a general election where board members are
elected. The term for Chairman and Vice-Chairman shall be two years.
The Chairman and Vice-Chairman cannot serve more than two
consecutive terms for their respective offices. If a vacancy occurs
in the office of Chairman or Vice Chairman, the remaining members of
the Board shall elect one of their number to serve for the balance
of the unexpired term. If there is a tie vote, the meeting will be
briefly recessed to allow the members to caucus. When the meeting
resumes, a second vote will be taken. If that vote is a tie, the
matter will be decided by the flip of a coin done by another
countywide elected official. The candidate whose last name is first
in alphabetical order calls whether the flip will be heads or tails.
If the coin lands with the called side up, that individual wins the
toss, and hence the position. If that side is down, the other
individual wins.
Ruben explained a change concerning bidding and public works
contracts for county projects. On Page 7 of the document, language
has been removed and replaced with: "A reasonable attempt will be
made to notify local vendors about bids being let." He explained
that this allows for an instance "if someone started a company last
week and you didn't notify them." He added, "That's our goal, is to
do it locally if at all possible."
Since it had been nearly a year since the board looked at the new
document, Schumacher reminded the board that one of the changes
affects the names of the full board meetings.
The board's first meeting of the month will change from "board of
whole" to "workshop." This meeting takes place on a Thursday. The
meeting the following Tuesday, which has been called the "adjourned"
session, will be called the "regular board" meeting.
The main body of the document was unanimously approved 11-0 at the
last-ever "adjourned" session in February.
The newest document separated out a list of committees that
includes the duties and function of the various committees. These
are now found in an appendix. Several changes for clarification were
completed for this month. Schumacher explained those revisions at
the board's March working session. With that, the document is
complete.
You can find copies of the documents below, showing changes, the
completed version, the committee assignments appendix and the code
of ethics.
[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]
Board documents
(PDFs)
Past related article
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