Elected and appointed officials could lose their posts if they
don
’t sign new policy
Morgan Hill – In an effort to create a culture of “values-based principles,” city leaders have adopted a new ethics policy that requires officials to demonstrate loyalty to the city and assume responsibility for the best interests of the citizens of Morgan Hill.
The policy applies to all elected and appointed officials and covers the city’s various agencies and commissions. Those who don’t sign on to the policy may be removed from their posts.
“It’s as though we’ve lost sight of ethics as a society,” Mayor Dennis Kennedy said of the need for the policy. “We need to refocus our efforts on working with values-based principles.”
In the last two years, Morgan Hill has been home to a soap opera worthy of daytime television. In April, former city attorney Helene Leichter agreed to resign after she was accused of having an affair with City Manager Ed Tewes by former Councilwoman Hedy Chang. No evidence of an affair was found.
Chang and local developer Bruce Tichinin said the affair played a role in the city’s rejection of Tichinin’s proposal to develop part of El Toro Mountain, with Tichinin going so far as to hire a private investigator to follow Tewes to Santa Barbara.
Tewes and Leichter vehemently denied the affair and the city council reprimanded Chang. Tichinin sued the city for slander in August. Leichter took a buyout of $233,000 and agreed not to sue the city except over a potential workers’ compensation claim.
Kennedy said that the ethics policy predates the scandal, but it “re-energized the need for a the new policy.”
He said that since he first joined the city council in 1990, he’s observed several instances of what he would call ethical lapses.
“I don’t want to point fingers at anyone,” he said, “but I’ve seen what I would consider unethical [behavior].”
The city’s policy was also spurred in part by AB 1234, a bill by Simón Salinas, D-Salinas, that requires local governments to adopt rules for open meetings and ethical conduct. Tewes, though, said city officials recognized the need for a policy for its own sake.
“The bill requires it,” Tewes said. “We did it as part of a larger realization by cities that there needs to be a recommitment to ethical conduct.”
Councilman Greg Sellers said the policy was a good first step, but far short of what the city really needs – a commitment to create an virtuous environment.
“We need to create a culture of ethics. That needs to be the goal,” Sellers said. “No amount of regulation is going to do that. We have to work at it until it ends up being just the way we do things. That’s where we need to go.”
The first step was an ethics workshop and signing ceremony last week attended by a group of about 60 officials and committee members ranging from Police Chief Bruce Cumming to members of the Youth Advisory Committee. The attendees received instruction on honesty, preparation, productive debate, listening and fairness.
