Council begins work on proposed code of conduct for elected officials and boards

Council held a workshop on March 10 to review a proposed code of conduct for the mayor, councilmembers and potentially the city’s boards and commissions. The item was requested by Daryl Sharp; he was not present, but council agreed to proceed.

Councilmembers supported several shared objectives: clarify that the code applies to the mayor and councilmembers as individuals and to the council as a body; add boards and commissions and appointed groups if council desires; and consider mandatory ethics training modeled on neighboring cities. City attorney Catherine said the draft could reference Chapter 171 of the Local Government Code (financial conflicts) and be crafted more narrowly to cover conduct during official city events or meetings, or more broadly to include out-of-meeting conduct if council chooses.

Members raised concerns about whether the public should be able to file complaints under the code (some worried this could be weaponized during election cycles) and asked for clearer definitions of conflicts of interest beyond financial matters. Catherine said the draft allows for outside investigators and could be revised to provide clearer procedures for receiving, reviewing and investigating complaints.

Direction: Council asked Catherine to revise the draft to reflect the feedback (consider extending coverage to boards and commissions, clarify conflict-of-interest language and scope of complaint procedures) and return it for further review at a future workshop or as an agenda item.