Big City Ethics
I know Temple is a whole lot smaller than San Antonio but should our size be the determining factor in how low we can set our ethics bar? In my opinion, The bar Temple has set rests very comfortably on the ground. It can’t be set it any lower since our standard of “anything goes as long as it legal” reflects the sentiment of the Council majority. Today I read over San Antonio’s Ethics Code. While there is a lot that wouldn’t necessarily be applicable for a city our size there is some really good, common sense, stuff in it. In the spirit of the Cliff Notes I so depended on in High School I am going to give you the sections that I think are relevant to our current lackadaisical conflict of interest attitude. For conflict of interest you can refer to SECTIONS 2-43 & 2-52. The sections dealing with their Ethics Review Board are also very interesting. SECTIONS 2-81, 2-82 & 2-83 would be worth a quick read. Maybe one day we can have the level of transparency that the Big Boys have.
Tags: City Charter, Conflict of Interest, Ethics