The City of Page, like many American cities, governs with a council-manager system. Most use the International City Managers’ Association (ICMA) Code of Ethics as guidelines for elected and appointed officials. The code includes 12 tenets and guidelines for each tenet. While the code is an international standard and useful, its concepts are general and lack specificity. Many cities expand the document to fit their needs.

The League of Arizona Cities and Towns offers a training course to all newly elected officials, like city councilors. Among other aspects of being an effective council member, the course covers ethics. The course, however, is optional. “Some won’t take advantage of it,” Page Mayor Bill Diak told the Chronicle.

The July 24 Page City Council agenda included a proposal for an official code of ethics for the City of Page:

“It is the norm for cities to have a written set of ethics that all voted positions and appointed positions follow. This Code of Ethics will be a tool that both elected and appointed officials can use. It has been a priority of the City Council and staff to be as transparent as possible with the residents of Page, and this is one more tool that ensures that. The Code of Ethics will set a standard of conduct, ensure accountability, prevent any conflict of interest, promote integrity, maintain public trust, and help as a guide for ethical decision-making. Overall, the Code of Ethics is essential for the City Council, appointed boards, and commissions to ensure transparency, integrity, and accountability are followed. It will promote public trust and set a standard for all city officials. Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the Code of Ethics for all appointed boards, commissions, and City Council.”

Among items covered in the code of ethics are disclosure of conflicts of interest, respecting confidentiality, meeting attendance and conduct in public meetings. Another conduct example is “Conduct of Members.” It states, “The professional and personal conduct of members must be above reproach and avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Members shall refrain from abusive conduct, personal charges or verbal attacks upon the character or motives of other members of the Council, commissions, boards, committees, staff and the public.”

Councilors will have time to review the draft and make suggestions for additions and modifications.

“Councils change all the time,” said Mayor Diak. “And it's also to be a part of the education process for new people coming in, to kind of give them a step up on certain things. Otherwise, you learn by absorption over a period of time.

“We've never had one here, and we should be letting our constituents know what we follow and how we do business and what they should expect.

“It kind of puts some strength in the fact that, ‘Hey, these are the guidelines you need to follow.’ It will be a signed document. In other words, when a new council member comes in, they will be asked to sign that document. Of course, you can't force them to do so, but it makes them aware of the rules of engagement. It's something that has been recommended by some of our other constituent cities that we work with. ‘This is how we handle these things.’”

Mayor Diak hopes a signed Code of Ethics document signals clear expectations of what is expected from councilors and board members. It also gives clear parameters for removing elected or appointed officials if an ethics code is violated.

“If you look back at our past councils, I don't think we've had a big issue with that over the years,” said Mayor Diak. “Once in a blue moon, you might have someone that kind of falls into that category moving forward. The world's changing and this might be a good time to implement some of those type things.”

The Council Meeting

“I think I brought this to you guys when we originally started a couple years ago doing our strategic priorities,” City Manager Darren Coldwell addressed the Council. “We should consider something like this. Most communities have it. It's taken about a year with several different people and then Josh [City Attorney Josh Smith] had his fingers on it for a while. What you received was the first option that had a little bit of everything. It talks about you guys and an opportunity to reprimand your people; it gives an opportunity for you to reprimand boards and commissions; it talks about the city council form of government and the separation of staff and Council. It just gives you a little ammo for each other and for your boards. Because you're really up in the air. The [current] code does say you can remove somebody with a vote, but this will be something that they have to sign once they're a brand-new member so there'll be no surprises.”

The 7-page Code of Ethics draft presented to Council is a condensed version compiled from other Arizona cities. The 12 tenets of the ICMA Code of Ethics will fit on a single page. The City of Phoenix has a separate code of ethics publication for elected officials (64 pages), boards and commissions (64 pages), and employees and volunteers (35 pages). Phoenix, with over 1.6 million residents, also has an Ethics Commission to process allegations, investigate, take testimonies and engage in actions. Page has small town needs but is looking toward the future.

“It's kind of just general business of things we would do anyway,” said Mayor Diak. “Not that we would come up with a code of ethics just to have the code of ethics. It's just [that] we're progressing and getting larger. We're trying to follow suit with best practices.”

Mayor Diak estimates the formal ethics code will be completed and approved within two months.