City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: DECEMBER 10, 2018
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
DOCKET TITLE:
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Public Hearing to Review the Effectiveness of the City Council Adopted Code of Ethics and Conduct and Ethics Pledge.
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ISSUE: Review of the 2016 adopted Code of Ethics and Conduct.
RECOMMENDATION: That City hold a public hearing on the current Code of Ethics and Conduct (attached) and request the City Manager develop a document which captures the ideas and issues from the public hearing, as well as those ideas and issues that the Council may raise during and after the public hearing, and then synthesize those ideas and issues for the incoming City Council members who will take office on January 2, 2019.
BACKGROUND: In early 2016 City Council created an Ad Hoc Code of Conduct Review Committee (the "Committee") which was charged with writing a code of conduct and an ethics pledge, as well as reviewing the findings of the report on the Commission on Integrity and Public Confidence in State Government to determine whether any of the recommendations in that report should be applied to the City. The Committee reported to Council in the spring of 2016, and Council then considered the Committee's recommendations and adopted the attached Code of Ethics and Conduct and Ethics Pledge. As stated in the 2016 Council adoption, the Code and its Ethics Pledge are "aspirational in nature," and "subordinate to federal, state, and local law and do not confer and/or mandate any additional duties beyond those required by law."
In the area of ethics and ethical conduct, Virginia local governments operate largely under the laws of the Commonwealth including the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which sets standards for governmental open meetings and transparency of information, as well as the Virginia Co...
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