Cedar Rapids council tweaks state's only local ethics ordinance

The City Council has tweaked the city's ethics ordinance to align it with the reality that some citizens on city boards and commissions may benefit along with the general public from decisions by those entities.

The issue came to light in recent months when members of the city's River Recreation Commission asked the city's Board of Ethics if it was appropriate for commission members who owned boat houses in the city harbor to vote to recommend changes in harbor rates.

The board concluded and the City Council agreed this week that board and commission members can vote on such recommendations and other decisions if the benefit does not go only to them but goes to them as it does to the general public.

By way of example, city officials noted this week that the city's Parks and Recreation Commission can weigh in on golf fees at the city's golf courses, but members on the commission who golf should not be excluded from voting on the matter simply because they, like many others in the city, golf.

The city charter, approved by voters in 2005, established the city's Board of Ethics, which is the only such local board in the state. Most cities depend on the state of Iowa to handle ethics questions.