Cedar Rapids' ethics board offers new advice to city officials on conflicts of interest

The Cedar Rapids Board of Ethics wants City Council members to vote, not look for ways not to vote.

In that regard, the board on Friday took on a little piece of the world of conflicts of interest to address times when City Council members and other city officials sit on non-profit boards for agencies and entities that make requests of City Hall.

In short, the ethics board concluded that members of non-profit boards typically receive no compensation for that service, and so City Council members and other city officials do not violate the city's conflict-of-interest ordinance if they sit on a particular non-profit's board and then take an interest in or vote on that non-profit entity's request that comes to City Hall.

City Council member Kris Gulick asked the ethics board to weigh in on the matter.

Gulick this week said the city ordinance calls on council members to recuse themselves from votes in which they may have a personal financial gain. But he said there is no financial gain for sitting on a non-profit board that does not pay board members.

At ethics board member Laura Behrens' suggestion, the board decided to recommend that council members and other members of city boards and commissions use specific language to publicly acknowledge membership on a non-profit's board when the non-profit has an issue in front of the city. The language then would state that such membership brings no financial gain to the council member or other city official and, as a result, it is not necessary for a recusal in the discussion or vote on the matter under consideration.

Board member Sister Susan O'Connor asked if there were just such "magic words" that council members and other city officials could use to spell out what the city's ethics ordinance prohibits and what it doesn't. The ethics board wants council members and members of city boards and commissions to vote when possible, O'Connor said.

"The more you recuse yourself, the less value you are … " she said.

A "fear of an appearance" of a conflict does not equate to an actual ethical conflict under the city ordinance, Behrens said

O'Connor said the language a council member or other city official uses to provide a conflict-of interest explanation at a public meeting should go into the official meeting minutes for the public to see. Each time that happens will serve as a "little piece of education" on the city's ethics ordinance, Behrens added.

In the board's discussion, Behrens said she sits on non-profit boards and sometimes attends the non-profit's events for free, when others must pay for admission.

Judi Whetstine, the ethic board's chairwoman, said instances in which a non-profit board member's presence at an event may be required by the board would not represent a financial gain and so would not create a conflict of interest for any subsequent city business with the non-profit entity.

The city's conflict-of-interest ordinance, like the state of Iowa's, is limited and does not address an appearance of conflicts of interest.

However, Whetstine noted that the city is preparing to amend its ethics ordinance to alert council members and other city officials that they could violate the federal government's more-stringent conflict-of-interest rules when they vote on city matters involving federal funds. Federal agencies have prohibitions against certain appearances of conflicts, Whetstine said.

She said the federal government, not the city's ethics board, would enforce such violations.