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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