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Monday, July 17, 2017

Ethics

It came as a surprise to many of the Board members a few months ago that the Otsego County Policy Manual requires the existence of a Board of Ethics, and that we do not have one, nor have we had one for some time.

Here's what it says about the makeup of the Board of Ethics:

The Ethics Board shall consist of three members. No more than two shall be of the same
enrolled party affiliation. All shall be approved by majority vote of the entire board. A
majority of the members shall not be officers or employees of such county or
municipalities wholly or partially located in Otsego county and at least one of whom
shall be an elected or appointed officer or employee of Otsego County or a municipality
located within such county.

It seems that in a county of over 60,000, three people could be found who would be willing to apply the Otsego County Ethics Policy, which is pretty clear and explicit, to the occasional case that might come before it. Dave Bliss, the Representative from Middlefield and Cherry Valley, is pursing it, as he repeatedly points out, on his own. He has to point this out because the Board, meaning the Board leadership, is not pursuing it, as far as anyone can tell.

This is one of the reasons we need a Democratic majority. I believe that following our own rules about ethics would be a slam-dunk, but apparently not.

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