Mayor Bouley Calls on Board of Ethics to Review Ordinance

In the wake of , Concord Mayor will ask the on Monday to consider having the board review the city’s .

In the consent agenda of the council packet, Bouley made the request so that the ethics board could “recommend, what, if any, amendments may be made to said ordinances to ensure a fair and efficient review of ethics complaints.”

Bouley said in an email that he didn’t know if there was much more to say about the request and that he tried to make it as straightforward as possible.

Also included in the council’s packet is a letter and documents from state Rep. , D-Concord, who called for changes to the process, noting that it was “heavily biased” against citizens who file complaints.

“If the council desires an ethics board to be ‘independent, impartial, and fair in their judgment and actions,’ (as stated in the preamble to the ethics ordinance), the ethics board and complaint process needs to be amended,” Watrous wrote.

Watrous filed a number of conflict charges against Bouley and Executive Councilor and At-Large City Councilor . Both were later cleared by the board, which did not allow any public testimony or counter evidence by the complainants, something that Watrous said rigged the process. In his letter, Watrous said he was willing to work with the council to ensure that the process was fairer and later stated that a new process of review needed to have public input.

“... I am wondering if there will finally be a hearing that allows citizen input in this important process to better shape the ordinances,” he said in an email. “Or will the mayor's and manager's ethics board continue to rubberstamp the mayor and council's actions.”

, another person involved in , also agreed with the need for a review but said the “real issue” was that the board didn’t view itself as an independent board. Herschlag called for “a joint committee” made up of ethics board members, city councilors, and a facilitator, to review the ordinance.

“Remembering that all rules relating to the BOE must be approved by the council, the first step is to allow the BOE to establish rules (within the guidelines of the City Charter) without needing to have the council’s approval,” he said in an email. “The more independence the BOE has the more it can be looked at as a legitimate avenue to file grievances and not as an arm of the council.”

Herschlag added that he thinks the board needs to be able to offer opinions relating to potential conflicts and violations. That, he said, "will allow councilors to get a ruling before a potential conflict arises at a meeting." Herschlag also suggested that the ethics board - not the mayor or councilors - make a determination regarding the council's Rule 6A conflict provision in cases that were not time sensitive. 

Ward 2 Councilor , the target of Herschlag’s conflict request and who was also later cleared by the board, didn’t offer comment about the mayor’s request.